MetaStory Switch
by StarLion
Summary: Author beware, there's a book on the loose that makes anything written in it become true. With no way to undo what gets written, who knows what could happen to the author who starts to write a story in it...
1. It Began With a Book

This is not a story. Well, alright it is. But it's sort of not a story. I know, I know. I've confused you, haven't I? Believe me, it's not nearly as confusing for you as what I'm going to tell you about.  
>This is more of a warning than a story, but there's a story to it too. I guess you could call this a meta-story.<br>What's the warning? Read on and you'll pick up the warning from what I had to go through.  
>What? Who am I? Didn't you read the author name on this? Yeah. It's little old me. For the purposes of this story, let's say my name is Liam. Or Lee. It's not really, but I like the name, so I'm using it.<br>So there.  
>Now honestly, stop interrupting me, or we'll never get anywhere with this.<br>Right.  
>Oh yeah. And I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Guess I shouldn't forget that, huh?<p>

Normally, whenever I write a story it goes straight from head to computer via the hands and the keyboard. I keep getting told this isn't the right way to go about it, and that I should write it down on paper first, then transcribe it to the computer.  
>Quite aside from the fact that my handwriting is dreadfully illegible even to me sometimes, I've just never got on well with writing anything down. I hate paper and paperwork. I'm allergic to the stuff – I break out in a nasty rash of procrastination. Means putting things off unnecessarily, for those who don't know.<br>But I also made myself a promise ages ago that I'd always give anything a try once. Twice depends on the first time, of course.  
>So I went out and got myself a book. Not one to read, one made for writing in. Like a pad, but with more pages and a hard cover. They're not easy to find, and I swear the one I found was the only one there. The store never did have them in again, though I know why now. So will you if you let me get on with this and don't let me get sidetracked. It happens a lot.<br>Nothing out of the ordinary, you'd think, right?  
>Nothing is further from the truth. Except maybe some of my more random ideas.<br>The book itself caught my eye mostly because it had a tiger stripe design on the cover. I like big cats, tigers especially. Inside the covers was the same, except for a small blue patch in the bottom right corner of the front cover.  
>On that patch was a little note that read 'Written is real'.<br>I figured it was just someone who'd scribbled it there for a joke and ignored it while I sat trying to think what to write. I've been writing a fair bit of Kingdom Hearts stories lately, and I have a habit of carrying around one of the characters in my head to talk to. Maybe I'm just schizo, but I find it helps me think.  
>What does that have to do with it? Everything – the story I came up with was Roxas's idea. We were arguing over what the story should have been and who it should have then we got on to who it should be about. While we had that argument out, he told me I'm a lot like Sora.<br>Alright, I admit I'm somewhat impulsive, I rarely think of the consequences to my actions, I hate planning and I'll stick up for my friends no matter what, even past the point where it becomes stupid. But I don't go around meddling like he always does, and I try to put some thought into things. And I'm more creative than he is. I travel a lot less too.  
>So Roxas had the 'bright' idea of making the story putting me in Sora's place. Literally and completely. Alright, not completely – but in this idea of his, I just end up looking like Sora. The idea was that I'd get the chance to prove I wasn't like him and do things differently.<br>Just think about that idea of his for a moment. If you unexpectedly got to lead Sora's life, but without his personality getting in the way and everything, wouldn't you jump at the chance to enjoy it?  
>Normally I would. It'd be a welcome change from some of the more recent annoyances in my life.<br>Normally though, I'd type the idea straight onto the computer though, and not write it into this book I had.  
>I'm not sure if I make a mistake or not in writing the start of that story in the book.<br>I'd planned to use what I wrote there as a kind of rough draft, and expand on it when I transcribed it, so my first line was a bit plain, hardly the kind of thing I normally put up for you all to see.  
>It read: 'I found myself in Sora's body'.<br>I'd been sat up in my bed, the top bunk. I have to share with my brother, who is likely to read this, so I won't pass comment on him here. He happened to be playing Kingdom Hearts from the bottom bunk at the time, starting a new game as it happened. So naturally when I was writing those words, I was thinking of Sora as he was way back at the start. Before the Heartless, the Keyblade, running around saving life as we know it... you know what I mean.  
>What's the first think Sora does after he goes through that Dive to the Heart? He wakes up.<br>What did I do? I woke up. Feeling disoriented – not something I normally get at all, immediately raising my suspicions – I pushed myself up, looked out over the sea, then just let myself fall back on my elbows to see Kairi looking back at me.  
>Normally, I can think pretty quickly – but as certain people will tell you, I deal very badly when surprised. And coming face to face with Kairi on Destiny Islands, when you firmly remember being sat in bed just moments before... if that's not a surprise, it's at least unexpected enough to startle anyone.<br>Like Sora does, I sat up again quickly in surprise.  
>"Sora, you lazy bum," she told me. Of course, she had no idea what had happened. "I knew I'd find you snoozing down here."<br>Surprised or not, I was quick enough to realise where I was, and even managed to cover by answering, "I guess I just dozed off again."  
>"You're always dozing off. Don't you get enough sleep at home?"<br>"Nothing wrong with lazing around a bit," I told her defensively. It's true, I tend to do it a lot myself. Good for thinking.  
>"You mean goofing off and dreaming about other worlds again."<br>"Who says they're just dreams? Maybe I'm really seeing other worlds in them." Alright, I was improvising.  
>I know what was meant to happen, at least in some vague way. Which meant that I'd know what to expect before I should have, be more ready to counter anything that came up and so on.<br>I could have played along and acted the part, but that would have gone against the entire idea. Maybe I didn't know what I was doing here in Sora's body and all, but the situation was perfect.  
>So knowing that, I added, "Someday I'll get out there and see 'em all for myself."<br>"So what're we waiting for?" she asked me.  
>I winked, turned and said, "You," to Riku. "Can't go forgetting you, can we?"<br>"Oh yeah? You're forgetting to work on the raft with me, aren't you?" Riku answered.  
>"Don't you know it's rude to keep working when everyone else is taking a break?" I teased.<br>"You're lazy."  
>"Yep! And?"<br>"And you're just as bad as him," he told Kairi. Evidently Sora's story was going to try to unfold as it should do anyway, despite any differences I tried to make. I wasn't going to let that stop me change things though.  
>"You noticed," she answered. "We'll finish it together then – I'll race you?"<br>"Are you kidding me?" Riku asked.  
>"You're on!" I said over him.<br>"What's gotten into you?"  
>"What's wrong, Riku? Don't think you can keep up with me?"<br>"Oh, now you're asking for it!"  
>I beat him, naturally. Maybe I'm just competitive, but if I'm going to race someone I'm going to try and win it. Whenever I saw Sora doing it, he never seemed to be really trying.<br>As you've probably already guessed, Kairi sent me off looking for supplies; a couple of logs, a cloth to use as a sail and a rope.  
>I left the sail to last. Probably just as well that I did. You know that hollowed out tree where you get it? Well, when I got to there, the cloth wasn't the only thing there.<br>The book was there, with a pen beside it. The cover was the same tiger stripe design, the note inside the cover was still there. The only difference was what was written.  
>In place of what I'd written, there were new words in handwriting I didn't recognise. They read:<br>'Liam, if you're reading this, write a response please. I need you.'  
>So someone knew I wasn't who I appeared to be, and had left this here for me. Where anyone could have stumbled across it.<br>After the last time I'd written in the book, I was wary about writing in it again, especially with my words erased and replaced with these ones.  
>But I put caution aside and wrote:<br>'I'm here. Who are you?'  
>I waited. After a moment, more words started to write themselves below.<br>'Who do you think? Where else was I going to end up while you go running around in my life?'  
>Sora. Something clicked in my mind, and I realised what had happened. When I'd written those first words in the book, they had become real. I really had found myself in Sora's body – and there's no room for two people in one body, so he'd ended up in my own.<br>'Write something to put us back then,' I wrote. Alright, maybe I did want this chance, but Sora had no idea how to live my life.  
>'I already tried,' he wrote back. 'The words just disappeared afterwards. I don't think that will work.'<br>Damn.  
>'I made the book appear there so I could communicate with you,' Sora's writing went on. 'Actually, it was Roxas's idea, but what is he doing around in your mind with you?'<br>I had to laugh to myself. That Roxas was hardly the real one, he was just there while I'd been working on my stories that he had a part in. It made it easier to write his parts with him around to point out mistakes.  
>But real or not, Roxas had been around with me long enough that he'd be able to guide Sora until one of us figured a way out of this.<br>'Long story,' I told Sora. 'Listen to him, because he'll be able to tell you what you need to know. Keep the book around too – if you've created it here, you should be able to make other changes to your life here that'll give me the upper hand just by writing in it.'  
>Then I realized something. Sora knew about Roxas. That meant he remembered his entire life, rather than just up to the point I'd jumped in at. Sora also seemed to know what was going on, and that left me with a nagging suspicion, so I added:<br>'Does that book there tell you what I'm doing here?'  
>'Including what you're thinking. I'll know if you want something, but keep that book on you anyway and check it from time to time, will you? I might need to hear from you if Roxas can't help.'<br>Well that made sense.  
>We talked a little more, mostly getting him used to his situation, then I pocketed the book and pen, took the cloth and returned to Kairi.<br>I joined Kairi and Riku that night, where he gave his rambling speech about other worlds. I didn't really change anything there, so I won't go and repeat it.  
>On the way back though, he threw the Paopu fruit at me.<br>"You wanted one, didn't you?" he called to me, catching up.  
>"Me? Are you trying to suggest something Riku?"<br>"Like what?"  
>"Oh, I dunno – you're the one offering one to me here..."<br>No, of course I wasn't serious. I admit to having a bit of a crush on Riku (Keep it to yourself though) but that was one thing I wasn't going to change here. I was just joking with him.  
>The look he gave me was priceless though.<br>"I'm kidding you," I told him. "I'll share one with Kairi when I'm ready. Even if you share one first."


	2. From Destiny Islands to Traverse Town

With the knowledge that at least for now, Sora and I would have to stay in each other's places, I was impatient. I'd get a chance to take up the Keyblade for myself, and all that went with it. There were events waiting to happen that I wanted to get to already, hopefully before we found a way back. Though I admitted that getting back would be nice too, since I had no idea of Sora would be able to handle my job. At least there wasn't too much to it, but I've never pictured Sora as the kind to get dirty.  
>But I'll get to his adventures in my job later.<br>I had the race with Riku over the name of the raft, where after my joke with him about the Paopu the night before he didn't suggest sharing one with Kairi. It was only over the name of the ship.  
>He always takes the same route, did you know that? Always has for me, at least. And if you ignore that wooden bridge, head right into the water for the steps until you get to that slope, you can tag the tree and follow the same route back to win it long before he gets close.<br>I did give him a sporting chance though, and didn't run quite as fast as I had the last time I raced him. He still lost though, and the raft got named the Explorer. Yes, I know it's hardly better than 'Highwind'. I'm terrible at coming up with names, but I wasn't going to let him win that one.  
>Our naming argument over with, Kairi sent me off to get supplies. Riku told me he'd already given her what he'd gathered, which I've always found interesting since Kairi comes up with the provisions <em>after<em> the race. I guess he gathers his at light-speed or something.  
>Anyway, when I went down to that cave with the door of Destiny Islands, just as I expected, Ansem showed up. I have that irritating feeling when someone's watching me, and when he appeared I knew he was there.<br>I took a bit of a risk, chancing the outcome when I said, "Hello there, Ansem," without turning around. "Come to see the door, have you?"  
>"How did you know?"<br>"Lucky guess," I answered, getting up to face him, or at least that brown robe he was wearing. I never got why he wore it. "Let me guess something else. This world is connected, tied by the darkness which you're going to tell me will soon completely consume it, right?"  
>"Who are you?"<br>"Wouldn't you like to know? Know something, Ansem? You could make the darkness take this world, but I'm not going to let you take the others with it."  
>"A meaningless effort. All worlds return to the darkness in the end."<br>"That doesn't mean they should get swallowed up by it. Anyway, you can't stop me."  
>"Perhaps," he said, then he disappeared. Faded out, actually. You can't say I didn't try to warn him.<br>I spent that evening with Kairi on the end of the dock, trying to hide that I was watching Riku on his way back over to the town where he lived. I guess where I lived too, while I was there. I still thought of it as Sora's home though, not my own.  
>When she and I eventually made it back to the mainland ourselves, I made some show of heading home, then doubled back and hid, watching the beach. I had a suspicion I knew why the storm was going to form, and I wanted to confirm it.<br>Oh, maybe I'd make a few people worry about me, but that wasn't too important. At least not until the Destiny Islands made it back out of the darkness later on.  
>Sure enough, not long after nightfall I spotted Riku sneaking back down to his boat and heading back to the island. It confirmed my own theory – Riku opened the door, which in turn let the Heartless in.<br>Just minutes after he'd moored up his ship on the island, the storm started to brew, and just after that Kairi rushed to the beach to get there herself. I waited until she was almost there before I joined them.  
>The Shadows were already appearing when I reached the island myself. I knew I couldn't do anything to them yet, so ignored them and headed to the rock where Riku waited.<br>"You opened the door," I accused him.  
>"What? No, it opened by itself." He's quick, I'll give him that.<br>"Oh, really?"  
>"It doesn't matter anyway – now we can go to other worlds-"<br>"And do what? What about Kairi?"  
>"Kairi's coming with us! Once we go through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see this place again, but this could be our only chance." I've heard him say this enough times that it bores me.<br>"Spare me the speech will you? Don't be a fool, Riku. You'll only end up in trouble if you do this."  
>"I'm not afraid of trouble – or the darkness!"<br>Well, I tried.  
>The rest followed. The darkness engulfed him, tried to do the same to me, and then I was holding the Keyblade. I'd expected it to weigh down a bit, but it's actually got almost no weight to it at all.<br>Then I indulged myself in something I've always wanted to do at that point. I turned to see a Shadow already forming.  
>"Morning," I said to it amicably, then sent it flying off the bridge. I'd hit it a bit harder than I meant to, but it didn't matter. It vanished when it hit the water.<br>In keeping with that complete indifference to the Heartless around me, I carried on toward the door, occasionally sending more Shadows flying. If I'd hit any more, they would have racked up enough frequent flyer miles to take a holiday. Not that they'd actually go.  
>One of them did get me once though. Just as I reached the white door that appears there, one of them jumped out of the water beside me and straight into me. Did you know Heartless give a nice squelchy kind of sound when you smash their heads into a wall? Neither did I until then, though I guess it could have been because it was wet.<br>You know what happens next. Kairi gets blown into me when the door opens, which is when her Heart took up residence with mine, the island ends up in the air, and the Darkside shows up.  
>I did sort of... what do you call it... sequence breaking? Something like that, anyway. You know the Keyblade can shoot out light from its tip, like when it opens or closes a lock? Yeah, I kinda nicked that idea and shot the Darkside in the face with it. But hey, it worked, and it kept me out of reach of those big arms it has. I'm not getting beaten up by it if I can help it.<br>And then of course, I got sucked into the darkness. Just think of blacking out – it's a bit like that, or maybe a black hole but without getting squished.  
>I know. I didn't go into all that much detail about what I did there. But there really isn't much you can do on Destiny Islands.<br>Besides – the interesting parts are still to come.

Welcome to Traverse Town, where the only times you see someone outside a building are because of cut scenes, or because they're one of the few people who show up in the First District when it's safe. The people here are all allergic to opening doors, I think. Including Leon, who appears to prefer jumping through a window, but that may just be because he smashed the Heartless out of it.  
>Anyway.<br>I'm a light sleeper. So it comes as no surprise that I was awake before Pluto found me. Not by much though.  
>I would be convinced that everything had been a dream, but I've long since held the habit of forgetting dreams as soon as I wake up. Since I could clearly remember Destiny Islands, it wasn't a dream.<br>I'd ended up in the same little alleyway that Sora landed in, of course. It's this kind of predictability that made things just too easy for me. Pluto showed up just after I got back to my feet again.  
>"You know where Donald and Goofy are, don't you?" I asked him. He just ran off again. I'd have tried to follow, but after I'd gotten out of that alleyway I soon found he'd vanished.<br>There's a sequence that's meant to be followed in order here, and after the short time on Destiny Islands, I'd already learned that things aren't going to happen unless I followed that sequence. Which is annoying, but at least I know what I've got to do.  
>Cid's shop is right there beside the alley where I landed and was the first stop on my little tour.<br>"Hey, how can I help... bah, just a kid." Ever get the feeling he doesn't like kids? I might be older than Sora is, but I still sort of come across younger than that, so this kind of opening remark bothers me just as much as it does him.  
>"Just a kid? Who says kids can't be customers too, huh? Or don't you serve 'em without their parents around to tell them what they're allowed or not?"<br>"Hey pipe down. Just not often I get little squirts in here."  
>"Well, this little squirt is gonna be showing up from time to time, so get used to it."<br>"You're new here, aren't you?"  
>"Arrived about a minute ago. I'm Sora." I know, I'm not Sora. But since both Kairi and Riku thought I was, was there really anything wrong with nicking his name too while I was there?<br>"So what're you doing in here then, Sora?"  
>"Finding out where I am. You've gotta tell me I'm in Traverse Town." Cid hesitated. "You've got to tell me. I get a nasty headache if I know what people are going to tell me then they viciously go and not tell me." Also not true, it's actually a sort of joke from the Discworld's Mrs Cake I decided to borrow.<br>Looking slightly worried, he actually did say, "You're in Traverse Town. And you're... lost?"  
>"Don't be silly. I know exactly where I am. I'm in a completely different world to the one I was in not long ago. Destiny Islands, before you ask."<br>"Never heard of it."  
>"Doesn't surprise me. Anyway, nice meeting you gramps. I'm out to look for some friends, see if they turned up here too."<br>"Don't call me gramps! The name's Cid. Anyway... good luck out there. Watch out for the Heartless."  
>"That's what this is for," I told him, waving the Keyblade at him before I left.<br>Now to see if I could bump into Donald and Goofy before I had to deal with Leon.


	3. Traverse Town continued

You know that Heartless you see as soon as you enter the Second District? The Soldier formed from the released Heart? It's a bad idea to try to stop it from happening. It changes some things that probably shouldn't get changed. I stopped it all the same though, netting me the Diamond Dust Keyblade as thanks.  
>Now, this should be seen as suspicious for two reasons – first, you're not meant to get that Keyblade until you clear the Gold cup at Olympus Coliseum, and then only on Final Mix – which is the second reason in itself.<br>The problem is, I've never managed to get my hands on Final Mix – I know about them, but that's all. I only know those things about it because I did a little looking up when I got back. So I had no idea anything was out of the ordinary.  
>It's a nice Keyblade though. Decent strength to it, very easy to handle. I admit, despite my actions on Destiny Islands, I wasn't very good with the Keyblade at this point in time. I had the few basic slashes down alright, but getting a Keyblade that was, for no discernible reason, easier to handle makes for a better weapon to practice with.<br>Anyway, as per usual, the Shadows started showing up again. I didn't mess around this time, getting used to keeping an eye on them as well as myself. Fighting first-person is _very_ different to the third-person view you're probably used to seeing. Especially when you're fighting for real, or at least what passed as real to me.  
>During a lull in the Heartless, I found that pretty much every shop in the Second District was locked. Some of them don't even have doors. I guess I wasn't going to be allowed anywhere the game doesn't let you go, which is sort of a shame. I don't exactly have anything against the way Sora looks back then, but for some reason I felt just a bit on the silly side. I wasn't going to be above a little personalising that original look a little.<br>Yes, I know. I'm getting distracted again.  
>Several times I went through a door – like into the Gizmo shop, for example – knowing full well that Donald and Goofy should be showing up somewhere nearby. I thought maybe if I doubled back really quickly, I'd be able to catch them. I was wrong – I never saw them at all during that search.<br>So naturally I played along with those rail road tracks that insisted on driving me through the events exactly as they were meant to be, and let Leon find me after I came out of Cid's shop for the second time.  
>Just as I'd done to Ansem, I didn't give him time to say anything.<br>"I know," I replied before he'd even delivered his first line.  
>"They'll come at you out of nowhere," he said, then frowned, realised something wasn't quite right and added, "What?"<br>"And it probably chose me because it thought I was the best guy for the job."  
>"How did you-"<br>"Never you mind," I interrupted him. "You're going to demand to see the Keyblade because I'm a kid, and you can't see why it chose me, I'm going to refuse, and we'll end up fighting. You'll lose that fight because you go easy on me, then Yuffie's going to turn up. Or, alternatively, you could just accept that this is my Keyblade, and that I'll whip you if you try anything, and we can move on."  
>Leon stared at me, nonplussed.<br>"Oh, and no, things really aren't as bad as you thought," I added as an afterthought.  
>"Something's not right here. You know what's going to happen before it's even happened."<br>"I know. Good, innit? So what'll it be, Leon? I've got no problem with handing your head to you." I was bluffing at this point. I had no idea if I was really up to taking him on or not, more hoping that he'd take the hint and not try it.  
>Unfortunately, Leon has a stubborn streak in him. He also has magic on his side. Aside from the two Hi-Potions Kairi gave me back on the islands (which I neglected to mention, I know), I was lacking in anything to heal myself with.<br>Leon's slow to summon his magic though, leaving him open. Which he so kindly did, attempting to send a fireball at me. Hit him in the middle of the summoning and he'll counter-attack, but reflect it back at him and it'll stun him. Actually managing to hit it... well, let's just say my hand to keyblade coordination is somewhat lacking. I managed to avoid getting fried, but that was about all.  
>So I fell back on my usual strategy – hack and slash, duck and cover. Hit him when I could, and get out the way when he attacked me. Rather amazingly, he didn't once manage to catch me during that fight, and unlike Sora I still had energy to spare.<br>"You're slipping, Leon," Yuffie told him from the roof of Cid's shop. I swear I could see that roof clearly from where I'd been fighting and I know for certain she wasn't on it. Then again, she is a ninja, so I guess that could explain her sudden appearance.  
>"No, he just went easy on me," I told her. "I did tell him he'd lose. I guess he didn't pay attention."<br>"You better put that Keyblade away before you call more Heartless to us."  
>I've had some theories about how exactly you dismiss a Keyblade, but up until then I'd never had a chance to find out which was true. It turns out it's as simple as just wanting it to disappear. Either those thoughts are what does it, or it has a mind of its own that picks up on these things.<br>Leon insisted on going ahead of us to clear the Heartless out the way, since without my Keyblade I wasn't going to be doing any more Heartless bashing. As I recall, he was muttering something about me, though I couldn't tell you what. Leon's a grade A incomprehensible mutterer.  
>"So how did you know what was going to happen?" Yuffie asked me.<br>"It's a gift," I shrugged. "I don't know the how or why of it." I was hardly going to tell her the truth, was I? Even most stories I could have concocted would have had a few holes in them, so chalking it up as something even I didn't understand neatly explained it for me.  
>"You know those Heartless track you by the Keyblade, right?"<br>"Sure thing. I was using that to draw them to me so I could get in a bit more practice with it."  
>"I don't think you need that much more practice. Not if you can beat Leon already, even if he was going easy."<br>"Never hurts to keep in practice though. Don't know why it chose me, but it did, so I better get used to Heartless showing up."  
>Yuffie steered me into the hotel, then on into the room she and Leon had taken up residence in.<br>"You're definitely slipping, Squall," she told him, and naturally he gave his trademark response.  
>"Hard to believe he's the one it chose," he muttered.<br>"You didn't get a choice in the matter," I told him. "Now you've gotta tell me what's going on."  
>Both of them hesitated this time. I told them the same thing I did Cid, then they went through the usual explanation.<br>My shorthand version is that there are other worlds out there, they're meant to be a secret, but the Heartless connected them with the darkness they dragged in with them. Good old King Mickey went off in search of the Ansem Report and the other Kingdom Key, sending Donald and Goofy to look for my one. The Heartless are afraid of it, and that's why they kept on coming after me.  
>Did you get all that? Good. I'm not going into it again.<br>There is one little flaw in that though – the Heartless go after the Kingdom Key's owner so they can get rid of them, right? Except, if I understand right, anyone worthy enough to own one of them is pretty much guaranteed to have a Nobody, who'll inherit the same Kingdom Key. So isn't it sort of a waste of time?  
>I guess not many Heartless bothered to think about that, but since there's only one Heartless that ever did do any thinking, it's not surprising.<br>Now, remember that Soldier I stopped from being created? This is why it was a bad idea. Without that happening, the Soldier can't appear in that room. So Leon doesn't send it flying out of the window, and Yuffie never suggests joining Aerith.  
>Know why this is bad?<br>It's bad because it means another Heartless has to appear instead. And most Emblem Heartless that aren't Soldiers are much more powerful than Soldiers.  
>It's even worse when the one that does appear is another Final Mix immigrant. The Stealth Soldier. They move much quicker, can turn invisible, and can disarm you if you're not ready for them.<br>I barely had time to call my Keyblade out before it sent it flying back out of my hand. Leon had to duck quickly to avoid getting impaled on it, and if Yuffie hadn't caught it before it tried to come after me again I'd probably have been finished there and then. It's just a bit under four times stronger, and this early on? I wasn't exactly going to be ready for it.  
>Leon recovered quick enough to send it flying out of the window and into the wall, where to my relief it was destroyed either by or just on impact with it.<br>See why it was a bad idea now? Yeah. I was definitely not prepared for that.  
>Leon sent Yuffie off to warn Aerith, then he and I followed the Heartless out of the window. Contrary to what the games show, he stuck around to handle the Soldiers – actual Soldiers thankfully – to give me the chance to re-summon the Keyblade back to me and get into the Second District again.<br>Now I was on my own, and there are a lot of places for Soldiers to pop up along the way. I found a useful side-effect of the Diamond Dust Keyblade is its Ice element, which periodically froze whichever Soldier I was attacking at the time. Whenever that happened, I just moved on to an unfrozen one, since a moving Heartless is more of a threat than a frozen one.  
>Getting to the Third District (again) wasn't too much trouble once I started to remember where the Heartless appear and how far I could safely go before more turned up. Handle one batch then move onto the next.<br>Once there, I kept a close watch on that tiny ledge where I knew I'd see Goofy. Not Donald though, because he's a short-arse, and you can't see him over the low wall up there. I waited until they get sent flying, then instead of running toward the gate to the First District, I headed toward the fountain instead.  
>They still landed on me. It's really irritating when I try to get out of something like that happening only to have it happen anyway.<br>"Yes, it's the key you're looking for," I told them irritably. It doesn't take much to make me irritable. "Now would you mind getting off me before more Heartless show up?"  
>The two were quick to comply when the gang of Soldiers showed up to emphasize my point.<br>Fighting with the two of them was a lot easier, I won't deny it. I'm still not entirely convinced that Goofy is really any good when it comes to dishing out damage with a shield, but since he seems to do it...  
>It didn't take long before our friend the Guard Armour showed up, anyway. And guess what? Completely unexplained to me still, it bore the Final Mix colours. Makes it look a bit like a clown, if you ask me, and clowns are just plain creepy.<br>The Guard Armour is still the same either way, and just like the Darkside I had no intentions of playing fair, since those claws look just as sharp as they really are. Firing light at it wasn't going to do me much good though, so until I came up with something else, battering away at it was about all I could do.  
>That was when I found out just how painful those claws are. Getting caught by them is not nice, let me tell you. Definitely not something that should be on anyone's list of things to do any day at all.<br>It did, on the other hand, give me the solution to dealing with this oversized monster. The body section is completely hollow, and a beam of light shot up through it sends the helmet flying skyward. This forces the parts to act independently until it lands, and even then the hands still have to put it back in place first.  
>They didn't get the chance. I think Goofy attacked feet backed up with Donald's magic, while I got my revenge on the claws. With both claws out the way, I came to their aid on the feet, then we all turned on the body. When the helmet finally landed, I pinned it to the floor with the Keyblade, neatly defeating the Heartless.<br>My first real boss battle down, and not a moment too soon. I was definitely not in any condition to keep on fighting after that, but damned if I was going to let that stop me from being proud of what I'd done. Be honest; who else do you know who's taken out one of those things?


	4. Onward to Wonderland

I got a few people leave me messages instead of reviews, mostly asking if you'd get to hear from Sora about what he was doing. Given what he said when I asked, I'm going to go with probably not.  
>But since I do remember some of the conversations we had through the books, you'll at least get to hear the sort of things he said.<br>Which were mostly complaints and 'rivets' as I recall. The explanation of that will come in time.

So, the Guard Armour was down and I'd met up with my new friends for the adventures ahead. I won't go into detail on the conversation we had, since it's fairly close to the original. I didn't bother pulling the face at them, since I didn't really have any reason to be depressed at the time.  
>I was given the ability to use Fire by Donald, though there wasn't much point. I tend to forget I even have magic around usually. With it in hand I stopped by Merlin's house and practised with it a bit so if I ever did need it, I'd know how.<br>You're not actually meant to go there until Cid gets you to deliver the Winnie the Pooh book to him, but there's no harm in opening it up early. One more place to reach the Gummi Ship by, if nothing else – though that brings up the point that I never once saw any save points. I'm sure they were there, I certainly used them as destinations when disembarking the Gummi Ship sometimes, but I couldn't see them.  
>Then I met Jiminy, who took up residence in the hood of the jacket. Or whatever you want to call it, I've always thought of it as a jacket. I had plans for this little cricket that would prove useful later on, and asked him to keep a copy of the journal. You'll see the significance in that much, much later on. I'll remind you about it at the time though, so you don't forget about it.<br>And then I got to try my hand at piloting the Gummi Ship. I was sort of looking forward to it, seeing if I did as well here as I usually do on the games – I usually make it through the entire game without bothering to change it at all, though I do end up avoiding fire more than hitting enemies later on.  
>Disappointingly, the Lanes Between aren't nearly as interesting as the games make them out to be. There are very few Gummi Heartless, and nearly all of them have no weapons at all. I have no idea what those large spotted barrier things are, but there are none of them, no rings... there are occasional rocks, and that's about it.<br>After realising there was no challenge to it like this, I left it to them. They're more experienced pilots, makes sense to let them fly it. Along the way, I checked my copy of the book – the one Sora created for me. There were a series of messages in there from him.  
>The first few were just warning me to be a bit more careful, then he moved on to tell me I'd been stupid to stop the Soldier being created. I sort of agreed with him after the encounter with the Stealth Soldier.<br>The most recent one was just finishing writing itself as I looked in.  
>'What sort of time is 3am for getting up?' he'd written. Whenever I read his messages, I always seemed to hear them in his voice in my head as I read them, and he sounded disgruntled to me.<br>'The time you'll be getting up in the morning to go to work,' I wrote back. Yeah, I have some ridiculously early starts. I set my alarm to go off two hours before I get picked up so I can actually wake up, make sure I've got everything sorted and such, so I'm often up even earlier than the mega-early start times.  
>Maybe a bit of an explanation is needed here.<br>I don't have set working hours, or a specific place I work most of the time – unless 'out' counts. The time the boss picks me up at is dependant on how far it is from where I live, to where we'll be working today.  
>And yes, I did just say that – including him, there's only three of us, so it's actually practical for him to pick me up in the mornings. Sometimes there are even earlier starts where I actually get picked up the evening before, but they're few and far between.<br>Anyway, the job Sora was going to have to be up for was about two hours from home, and since the job was due to start at about 7am, that meant I was picked up at 5, and would be getting up at 3.  
>What do I actually do? Just be patient, I'll get to that in a bit.<br>Sora's a late, or at least slow riser, so the two hours for him were more to make sure he actually did get up. I set my alarm to go off several times to make sure I really do get up – just in case.  
>As you can imagine, he wasn't too happy about this.<br>'Stop complaining,' I told him after having to read several lines of this. 'If you're not up, the boss will call and get you up himself, and he won't be happy.'  
>'I don't know the slightest thing about your job Lee,' he protested.<br>'Roxas has seen me do it, and he's seen me teach others, so he can teach you.' The third person out of us – I won't name them or the boss, before you ask – left a while back, so I'd had to take up the task of training up each new candidate the boss had brought in. We'd finally found someone who stuck with us, so I didn't have to do any more teaching. Probably just as well; I don't think Roxas would have done too well teaching them as well as Sora.  
>'What if someone notices I'm not you?'<br>'Has anyone noticed you yet?'  
>'No... but I've had Roxas telling me what to do. I think he's enjoying it.'<br>'Then you won't have any trouble. Stop worrying about it.'  
>'Guess I'm off to bed then before it gets too late.'<br>'Wait a moment, Sora. I need something from you.'  
>'Make it quick then, I don't want to miss out on too much sleep.'<br>'Which world are they taking me to?' I had a fair idea, but I wanted to be sure.  
>'Wonderland, why?'<br>'Make a little change for me. You know those two drinks on the table? Before you go, make a copy of each of them that I can carry around with me. I've got a feeling I might be able to make use of them.'  
>A little preparation never hurt. This idea I'd come up with during the time on Destiny Islands, knowing what was going to come. There wasn't any point in putting it in place until I was headed to Wonderland.<br>After a wait, Sora wrote, 'Done it. I think it worked. The bit I wrote hasn't disappeared this time. Try not to need me again until I get up. I'm going to bed. I'll find out what you're up to tomorrow.'  
>I hoped I was right about his not getting noticed.<p>

Ah, Wonderland. The place that puts logic and sense through the wringer so many times that it could walk through a corkscrew sideways on the ceiling. Or possibly one of the walls. The place that a certain M. C. Escher probably built those otherwise impossible staircases of his. The only reason you don't see them here is because they're kept hidden away to keep them from giving anyone headaches.  
>This world is not among my favourites, in part because the local Heartless don't hold still when you're going after them, but mostly because the card soldiers just don't stay down when you defeat them.<br>As you'd expect, we followed the White Rabbit into the Bizarre room where it went through the door with the doorknob – which I never understood; isn't that the door to the Heart of that world? The presence of the Keyhole suggests it.  
>I elected not to disturb the Doorknob myself, letting Donald and Goofy bother it while I pocketed the second pair of drinks from the table. Sora had made it already rise up before I got here just so I could take them.<br>Once the Doorknob directed them to the remaining bottles, I drank the one to shrink down. They didn't do the same, but they did take the suddenly massive bottle off me so they could do the same. Like the Keyblade, their weight didn't seem proportionate to their size – at least in comparison to me. Either Sora's stronger than he looks, or quite a few things have the wrong weights just so Sora can move or lift them.  
>The spare bottles Sora had created for me shrank down with me, which is probably just as well. It could have been a bit awkward to get around if they hadn't.<br>I knew the Doorknob had already gone back to sleep, and wasn't likely to let us through anyway, so we pushed that bed by the door into the wall and headed on to watch the trial begin.  
>"Don't warn me," I told Goofy. "I know it's meddling. I'm going to do it anyway."<br>"But Sora-"  
>"Trust me."<br>I winked at him, then pushed through the card soldiers just in time to hear, "Off with her head!"  
>"Off with your own head!" I told the Queen. "She's not guilty."<br>"Who are you? How _dare_ you interfere with my court?"  
>"Quite easily, that's how. The real culprit here is the Heartless." I fended off Goofy's attempted to silence me.<br>"Nonsense! What's your proof?"  
>"Because I say so, that's what. If you can judge her 'because you say so' then so can I."<br>She seemed surprised by this. I wasn't expecting it to work, not since I came up with it right there and then.  
>The card soldiers looked from me to the Queen, bemused.<br>"Absolute nonsense!" She burst out finally. "I'm the Queen, and you're just a meddlesome little brat! Bring me evidence, or it's off with all your heads!"  
>So much for that working, huh? As usual, events were going to do their best to ignore my meddling.<br>Since by now, at least Goofy had discovered my 'ability' to predict what was going to happen, as soon as we entered Lotus Forest I turned to the nearby tree stump. You know, the one that the Cheshire Cat appears on.  
>"Don't tell us who the culprit is," I told him as soon as he appeared.<br>"But why would I want to tell you the shadows are responsible."  
>"Aha! I thought so!"<br>"Who-" Donald started, but I waved him into silence.  
>"He's the Cheshire Cat," I told him. "But if you want answers from him, you have to word your question carefully."<br>"And even then, I don't always tell. The answer, the culprit and the cat all lie in darkness."  
>"Don't tell me where they've gone."<br>"They're not in the forest, that I'll tell you. But which exit they took, is up to you. Gather the evidence, all four pieces. If you find the fourth, you'll be in for a prize."  
>Then he disappeared again.<br>I know where the three easy bits of evidence are, but no matter how much I search that place, I've never once been able to find the fourth until this time, and I don't know how I managed to miss it now I know where it is.  
>To make things a bit easier on me though, we cleared out the main forest area of Heartless before beginning our search. It was here that I reinforced my extreme dislike for Large Body Heartless, a dislike I picked up ever since I played the first Kingdom Hearts game... where three of them landed on me at once, defeating me. One Sora pancake that I've never let them cause again.<br>The first clue is the Antenna, found in a box on a leaf, not far from three large mushrooms. Yeah, I know, my directions aren't all that good. I don't have a very good sense of direction, and I'm terrible at directing others.  
>Going through the hole in a tree that leads back to the Bizarre Room opens the way to a box that contains the second clue, a Stench... though how you can carry around a smell is beyond me. Then again, this is Wonderland.<br>To get the third clue, you normally have to make one of the flowers cause you to grow. I on the other hand, had the second bottles that stayed with me, so I used one to grow again, stamping on the tree stump to continue on, then shrinking again. It's a small matter to find the box containing the Footprints.  
>Now, the fourth one is a little trickier, and usually I skip it. But I was determined to find it this time. For those of you hoping to find it, jump on the mushroom near where you get the Footprints and go along the raised leaves to find the other entrance to the Bizarre room – the one that isn't on the side of the tree.<br>You'll end up near an urn that's engraved in the floor. Get up on the cupboard and you'll find the box with the Claw Marks.  
>The Queen, naturally, decided to have me pick just one of the boxes of evidence. I have terrible luck at this point, and it showed up again to give me Donald and Goofy inside the box I opened. I was going to have to do this alone.<br>I guess you could say I cheated a bit during that fight. As I already mentioned, I don't like the card soldiers because they don't stay defeated. So I took out the bottle to grow again, and stomped on them instead. Not that I needed to, because one good kick completely destroyed the little tower thing, sending Alice's cage shooting to the floor.  
>It's probably just as well she wasn't in it, given how quickly it dropped.<br>The Queen was predictably furious, sending the card soldiers scurrying to find out who stole Alice while I shrunk myself back down, then slunk back into Lotus Forest with the others before the Queen tried to accuse me of anything else.


	5. To Olympus Coliseum

I sort of cheated a bit more just after we discovered Alice had gone missing during all the commotion. Instead of lighting the lamps on the ceiling of the Bizarre room and then going down to the floor, I stood on the floor and aimed my own fire magic at the lamps on the ceiling. Don't try it in the game, because as far as I can tell there's no way to aim high enough, or get the fire to keep going long enough.  
>I felt that since it was going to be one of the few times I bothered to use magic, I might as well overdo it and show off a little, lighting them from the table and surprising myself actually. I hadn't expected it to work so well.<br>The Trickmaster, as you probably know, starts on the ceiling and drops down to meet you, starting the next boss battle. All we heard was a lot of scrabbling sounds for a while, looking around in search of it.  
>Then with a thump, the Trickmaster – like the Guard Armour, in Final Mix colours - appeared in the fireplace – but it was shrunken down, as if it too had drunk from the shrinking bottle. If this was going to be the opponent, my preparations weren't going to be of any use here.<br>We hopped down from our perch atop the table, only to find that as soon as we hit the floor it swelled up into the far large form you usually go against. _This_ was more like it. The table behind us shrunk back into the floor, the drinks on top of it going with it. I quickly passed around the spare growth bottle though, making the three of us even in size with the Trickmaster.  
>Just as I had with Leon and the Guard Armour, my Keyblade did most of the talking. Knowing that after a certain amount of damage it would end up stunned, and that while grown I was likely to deal out more damage, it came as some surprise that it was taking a long time to reach even the first time it would get stunned.<br>I know why now – it's resistant to ice, the element of Diamond Dust, halving all damage. I know you can't change Sora's Keyblade in the middle of a fight, but I could and did. With the Kingdom Key back in hand things started to look up.  
>Donald's a bit on the terrible side when he runs out of magic at this early stage, at least until I stopped saving the munny enough to get him something a little more decent. I do that all the time and the same for Goofy. At least Goofy has masses of health to see him through most battles.<br>With my bigger size, I was able to prevent him from getting anywhere near the stove, something I actively worked on after Donald's Fire magic set the batons alight. In my defence, I did try to avoid getting hit by those flaming batons, but it managed to catch me enough times that Goofy actually had to throw a potion at me. Don't ask me how throwing it at me makes it take effect. As long as it works, I wasn't complaining. That marked the first point in my adventure where I needed to get healed at all.  
>Eventually we – well, more me than the others – managed to beat it down until it collapsed beside the Doorknob, which predictably complained about the racket. While it yawned, I locked the Keyhole. Out from it came a Gummi piece, and something clinked down onto the newly re-raised table behind me.<br>On the table, an ace of Hearts playing card on a chain lay beside the bottles, along with a little note that read, 'Don't worry about the Trinity Mark. You can have it early -Liam.' I guess Sora had made a few more changes than I was aware of. Obviously it would have been a bit odd for him to sign it with his own name, so had resorted to using mine.  
>"This Gummi isn't like the others," Donald muttered, turning it over in his hand.<br>"It's a navigation Gummi," I told him absently. I was looking for the Cheshire Cat.  
>"You're quite the hero, you are," it said, appearing on the table juggling its head between its feet. "But dear Alice isn't here. Off with the shadows, into the darkness."<br>"Don't tell me who did it." I reasoned if that had worked earlier, surely it would now.  
>"Oh no, not me," it replied. "The darkness has too many names to tell you which it isn't and which it is."<br>Then the silly thing faded out again.

Now at this point, you can either go to Olympus Coliseum or Deep Jungle. Unlike me, you get to choose – I left it entirely up to them where we went. It meant I had no idea when I'd end up at one world that I was dreading coming to, and no idea when we'd get to the world that's the complete opposite at, the one that I'd happily go to live in any day.  
>Rather inconveniently, none of us keep a timepiece on us, so I had no idea how long we'd been in Wonderland. It didn't seem like too long, but at the same time the fight with the Trickmaster had felt like it had taken absolutely ages.<br>So without any idea of how long it'd been, I surreptitiously pulled out the book again to see if there were any new notes in it. There weren't any, but since Sora had so kindly given me the keychain for the Lady Luck Keyblade, I felt it was only fair to leave a note thanking him for it.  
>"Say, what's that you got there, Sora?"<br>I'd completely forgotten about Jiminy. Thankfully neither of the others heard him, arguing over which world to go to.  
>"I guess you could call it my own journal," I answered, thinking quickly. "Except it's sort of a bit more private. You weren't peeking, were you?"<br>"Oh no, of course not," he assured me from my shoulder. "And even if I did, I'd never tell a soul."  
>"Thanks Jiminy. It's kinda the only thing from home that I've still got." He may have thought I was talking about Destiny Islands, but I wasn't.<br>"What's the design on it?"  
>"Tiger stripes. One of my favourite animals. I've always had a liking for them."<br>"I've never seen one myself. I'm just a little small to be going to see them myself."  
>"Don't you worry Jiminy. Someday I'll take you to see at least one of the big cats. Promise."<br>"You don't have to do that for me."  
>"Sure I do. Got to do something in return for that little favour I asked."<br>"Just why do you want two journals, Sora?"  
>"You know I keep getting an idea of what's going to happen, right? Well, what if I told you in one of those, I saw something that was going to erase the journal?"<br>"You saw that?"  
>"Something like that." Keeping it vague was probably a good idea, I'd decided. "I'm going to give the copy to someone who can keep it safe, so they can get it back to us later on when it's safe."<br>"Now I understand. Must be nice to see the future like that."  
>"Sometimes. There are some bits I'm not looking forward to. But there's always good times and bad on any journey, right? Like your getting separated from Pinocchio."<br>"Will we find him?"  
>"Of course. Don't worry about him or us. I've got everything in hand."<p>

Olympus Coliseum, home of the gods and a stubborn old satyr hauled out of retirement to train aspiring heroes – even when he doesn't realise the 'hero' he's training isn't the one he thinks it is. Anyone who's played through Days knows he mistakes Roxas for someone Hercules was bringing in.  
>Greek mythology is something that, while I'm far from an expert, I have a keen interest in. This is one of the worlds that I'd been looking forward to, though there are still others that were a little higher on my personal list of favourites.<br>Knowing that Sora had done something about the Trinity marks scattered around the various worlds, since I'd not spotted a single one anywhere and his intervention with the Lady Luck Keyblade, I had a bit more sequence breaking planned. Since the Coliseum is probably the only world where the Heartless don't care if the Keyhole is locked or not, it wouldn't make much difference.  
>I was determined to handle the story events here first though. But before we entered the Lobby, I paused, looking thoughtfully at the doors. There was no real point to this, but it had the effect I wanted.<br>"Sora?" Donald asked me, concerned. "Sora!"  
>"What?"<br>"What d'ya mean, what? You were staring at the door!"  
>"Oh. Right. I just sort of got a hint of what was going to happen. Don't take it personally, Donald."<br>"Don't take what personally?"  
>"You'll see in a moment. Oh, and save your magic when we get into the games... we'll need it when we get to the last match." They waited, watching me curiously. "What? I don't have any more than that. It's not like I get everything, you know."<br>Philoctetes, or just Phil was tending that sign right beside the Coliseum entrance. Don't ask me how, but even though it was written in Greek – or whatever it actually is – I could read it perfectly.  
>It doesn't say anything interesting, in case you're wondering.<br>"Good timing," Phil said to us, not turning around. "Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me. I gotta spruce this place up for the games."  
>"I think you've got the wrong guy, Phil. I'm not Hercules."<br>"Huh? You're not? Well so you aren't," he agreed, turning to see.  
>"We're here to enter the games," I answered.<br>"What're you doing here?" he asked, then we stared at each other for a moment while he tried to catch up. I love doing that to people, the look of confusion is absolutely priceless.  
>"You can't enter the games. You're not heroes."<br>Donald almost reacted, but then remembered my warning and held it back with obvious reluctance.  
>"Just because you don't think we're heroes, doesn't mean we aren't. I mean, who other than you, heroes and gods can come here?"<br>That probably isn't right, I'll admit. Phil doesn't know that though.  
>"Alright, so maybe you got something," he admitted grudgingly. "But you're going to go through a couple of trials first to prove yourself. By yourself."<br>"Hey, what!" Donald exclaimed. "What's the big idea?"  
>"Donald," I said warningly. "Don't worry. I'll ace it."<br>I did have to re-take the second one, I'll admit. I ran out of time before I managed to get the last one on the platform. Maybe Sora does have a longer and higher jump than your average me, but Sora is also almost recklessly uncaring when it comes to that. I'm just a bit less confident, and I don't like literal leaps of faith. After an incident involving a tree a long time ago, I'm extremely wary when I can't be certain if I'll make a jump. Deep Jungle was going to challenge me, I knew it.  
>Second time went well enough to make the grade, satisfying Phil.<br>"So, do I get into the games?" I knew the answer, naturally – but if I didn't ask, he wouldn't tell.  
>"Afraid not. You got skill, but you ain't heroes."<br>"You know, I'm pretty sure I know how to make an appeal to Zeus – he's the one who owns this Coliseum, right? He'll confirm it, but he's busy, and I don't want to bother him."  
>"You can just prove yourself – master this spell first."<br>He didn't hand me anything, or even move. I just knew how to cast Thunder, and it was so tempting to test it out on him at that point.


	6. More Coliseum Adventures

There are a few things you can do with the Thunder spell newly available, but I decided to cut down on the amount of time I'd spend travelling between worlds. I'd get to each of the places I'd need it as I progressed, so I put them off for now.  
>First up was my very first meeting with Hades, back outside in the courtyard.<br>"Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?"  
>"What's the catch, Hades?" I think I might have thrown him off a little by going too far ahead.<br>"Catch? What're you talking about?"  
>"You're going to offer me a way into the games, aren't you?"<br>"Now _that_ is an interesting gift you have there, fuzz boy. Care to let me in on it?"  
>"I'll think about it. Answer the question."<br>"How about you tell me how you know-"  
>"The Lord of the Dead, King of the Underworld... need I go on?" I could have said even more, but I didn't want to show off.<br>The Entry Pass appeared in his hand. "I'll give it to you. But in exchange... tell me, just how far can you see into the future?"  
>"Far enough to know you ought to quit while you're ahead," I smirked. "When you see Auron, give him my best, won't you?"<br>"Auron? Who in the Underworld is Auron?"  
>"Oh, hasn't that happened yet?" I asked innocently. "Well, I guess you'll just have to wait and find out, won't you? Since you've got your answer..." I took the Pass off him.<br>For a moment, Hades looked like he was going to turn on me, I suspect because he was planning to ask me something else instead of how far I could 'see', but evidently he decided against it.  
>"Good luck in there. I'm pulling for you-"<br>"Say it and regret it," I interrupted menacingly. I don't like short jokes or remarks like 'little shorty'. Even from gods.  
>I think in those few short minutes I managed to confuse him to the point he even forgot he was meant to be getting rid of me for Maleficent. Or at least I assume she passed that on to him, otherwise why else would he have gotten me into the games? Unless it was just to annoy Cloud, but I doubt that.<br>"Who is Auron?" Goofy asked me as we headed back to the Lobby.  
>"We'll meet him on one of our later visits to this world," I answered, evading the actual question. "Now, what do you guys say we enter the games?"<br>"Won't Phil be suspicious that we got a pass just like that?" Donald asked.  
>"Watch and learn," I smirked back.<br>Phil was back to tending the sign again, so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention, then wordlessly showed the Pass to him.  
>"Hey, how'd you get this?"<br>"Not important. Can't be forged these, can they? So we're headed for the games, aren't we?"  
>"I... guess so. Alright, you can enter into the preliminaries with the rest of the weirdos that signed up."<br>With the Lady Luck Keyblade set and ready to go with a considerable boost in power to any of my other Keyblades I powered through the first three rounds without the slightest problem. I even fired a few Heartless, though I did that more to finish the more distant ones off, cleaning up, you could say.  
>When we finished the third round, I made an excuse to Phil, asked Donald and Goofy to stay with him, then sneaked around to the other side of the Coliseum, where Hades was talking to Cloud. We'd passed briefly just after I won the first round, but otherwise had no contact with each other. I waited until Cloud left before I made my entrance, leaning on the wall just behind Hades.<br>"Stiffer than the stiffs back home. Still, suckers like him are hard to come by..."  
>"And harder still when they know they're being manipulated, right?"<br>"Right. That's why-" He broke off, then glanced down to see me. "You? How- ah, never mind. Thought you'd check up on your benefactor, huh?"  
>"No, I just wanted to tell you I saw something new about you."<br>"What's that?"  
>"You're a sore loser," I told him, then made a quick exit before he had the chance to respond. That's not the sort of thing you tell him lightly – at least not without being prepared. Anyway, Cloud was going to be my next opponent, and I had no intentions of losing to him.<br>Truth be told, I fully expected to lose. Cloud is considerably more difficult than Leon, far more stubborn and not to be taken lightly. He was the reason I'd insisted Donald keep his magic in reserve – if he could avoid Cloud for long enough to unleash all of his magic, let alone anything magic I remembered to throw at him, he'd be in a much weaker state.  
>I remember going against him many times but as I often found, no matter how well I remember any boss battle when I'm not actually in said battle, I can never remember the useful details until those details are being used to hammer me. About all I remember is any of the few ideas I might have come up with to take him on.<br>This time wasn't much different. I remembered something about keeping out of his way, but that holds true for pretty much any major battle really.  
>Cloud neatly reminded me why it would be good to keep clear and at the same time screwed up my hopes that Donald would wear him down by aiming for Donald first with that massive sword of his. Does anyone actually know what the bandages on it are there for?<br>Cloud's attacks are slow, but powerful and cover a lot of ground. He gives those warning yells, or whatever they are, whenever he's about to use most of them, which gives ample warning to run. I'd roll aside, but I preferred to stay up on two feet.  
>Which turned out to be useful once he downed both Donald and Goofy, turning on me. Somewhat out of character for me, I spent most of that time hitting him with my newly acquired Thunder magic, but once he turned on me I left that aside and concentrated. It's amazing how easy it can be to forget that I was worried about losing when Cloud is staring you in the face.<br>After every series of his dashing attacks he made I stopped running and started fighting back, usually from behind if I could help it because he takes a while to turn around. It's not a good idea to stick around too close after a landing a couple of combo chains on him though, because by then he was ready to start hitting back again.  
>I don't recall if he actually does it in the games or not, but at least here he managed to throw me off a little at those points, sometimes pretending to stay down longer just to catch me off guard, and sometimes getting back at me earlier than I expected. One of Kairi's two Hi-Potions from the islands finally got used during that battle to keep him from defeating me, and not long after I filched a Potion off the unconscious Goofy to get Donald back up. Cloud remained focused on me despite that, allowing him to unleash merry hell on him with his mostly untouched stocks of magic.<br>And then would you believe it, I beat him? It'd seemed like it was just moments ago I was talking to Hades outside, now here I was bringing down Cloud. With a winning streak already starting to emerge, I was starting to get a feel for doing this, getting more confident.  
>I wish that confidence had stayed with me at certain times between now and then, but at least most of those times it had good reasons for abandoning me.<br>Unlike some others, Cloud isn't a sore loser – he's actually rather good-natured about it, and even gave me the keychain for the Metal Chocobo Keyblade, which replaced Lady Luck for a small boost in power, and a small reduction to my magic – not that I was really worried about magic. There was no time to be.  
>"Cloud!" I snapped. "Get clear – now!"<br>He barely had enough time to say, "What?" before Cerberus sent him flying into the far wall.  
>"Get outta there, kid!" Phil called to me.<br>"Not a chance – not until someone gets Cloud out of danger."  
>"Leave that to me," Hercules told me, already running for him. "You get out."<br>Phil, closely followed by Donald and Goofy, followed that advice. I ignored it, keeping Cerberus occupied while Hercules retrieved Cloud, which isn't easy. Three heads means three attention spans – two of which were focused on Hercules.  
>I don't know what came over me, but throwing caution out the window I used a back leg to climb up on its back. Thatdefinitely got its attention, making it thrash around trying to get me off, and giving Hercules the distraction he needed to make a quick exit. I barely managed to stay on through all the thrashing and bucking he made, but I held on long enough for it to come back to its senses, then continued up the middle neck, swinging the Keyblade at its unprotected rear.<br>I kept a close eye on both the other heads, occasionally slipping down the neck whenever one got too close. Between them, they did more damage slamming into the middle head than I did with the Keyblade.  
>Donald and Goofy came back out to help after realising I hadn't run inside with them, though since Donald was out of magic and Goofy couldn't get close enough without being stepped on, neither was much help.<br>Cerberus isn't too bright, but you can't call it slow either. It finally caught me out by swiping at me with one head, where I slid down to get clear – only to have the other head come crashing into me from the side, sending me flying this time and landing painfully on the ground. There's a lot of sand between the arena and the stands, and it's _definitely_ not the nicest thing to land on. Take it from me- it hurts. I dread to think what I'd have looked like had whatever innate magic not prevented me from showing any visible injuries.  
>With Cloud safe and me off Cerberus, Hercules was able to finish Cerberus off, which was just as well since I was definitely in need of a healing hand before I was going to be doing anything else.<br>Once I was back up on my feet again, Phil naturally dubbed us Junior Heroes – prompting another warning to Donald not to take it so personally – then I got the guys to help me shift that big stone Phil wanted moved when we arrived. Underneath it, of course, is the Keyhole of Olympus Coliseum. Two Keyholes locked, however many left to go.  
>Hercules apparently knew about the Keyhole, though not where it was. In return for locking it, he gave me yet another Keyblade for the collection, the Olympia Keyblade – along with another note from 'Liam' telling me not to go risking my neck in the various Cup Tournaments. I guess Sora really was looking out for me, but I would have liked a crack at them all the same.<p> 


	7. Into the Jungle

Cloud really is beatable, I guarantee that. If you ever have trouble with him, just do what I usually do – save as soon as you can before facing him, and if you lose give it another go. Good advice for any major battle really, I guess. But at least you get that chance; I think I've mentioned it before but I couldn't see any save points. As far as my adventures were concerned, I had one chance only.  
>I suspect that if at any point I was defeated it would have sent me back out, but I didn't want to chance that. I don't think Sora would have liked being stuck out away from his own life.<br>That said... nah, you'll see that in just a moment.

With Olympus Coliseum completed and the local Keyhole locked, there was nothing more for me to do here. I wasn't likely to end up here again on this particular adventure after Sora had given me the Olympia Keyblade early, insisting I wasn't to go into the games.  
>Out of habit, once we were back aboard the Gummi Ship and headed for Deep Jungle, I pulled out the book again. I wasn't expecting to see anything, but as I've remarked before it's hard to tell how long I actually spent anywhere.<br>What I really wasn't expecting was Sora though. Not exactly him, but his reaction to what I'd been doing.  
>'Have you completely lost all sense?' he'd written. 'Telling Hades that, then taking on Cerberus alone, do you have any idea how close you came to getting killed out there?'<br>Not exactly the most promising way to start talking to him.  
>'I survived, didn't I?' I wrote back. 'And I locked the Keyhole too.'<br>'That's not the point, any more and I'd have had to intervene. It was recklessly irresponsible...' lets just say it went downhill from there.  
>I couldn't help but grin to myself though – Sora taking me to task is a lot like being savaged by a playful kitten. There's a lot of gnawing and play-fighting, but no real reason to worry. Besides, I held the point of view that there wasn't any point having a go at me about it – as long as I made it through, what's the worry?<br>Eventually he calmed down enough to give me the chance to say something again, so I decided to change the subject to something I thought wouldn't bother him quite so much. And if it did, well, too bad – I wanted to find out anyway.  
>'So I guess this means you're back from work then?'<br>'On the way back,' he corrected. 'How can you do this so much, Liam? It's enough to put anyone off eating out.'  
>'Doesn't bother me. Besides, it doesn't pay badly, and there's some parts I don't mind doing. Did it go well?'<br>'Once we got a bit of ducting down. And up again later. Right on the side of a roof as well. I'm amazed no one fell off.'

Alright, for those of you not interested (or who for some reason already know) you can skip this short little explanation on what I do for a living. If curiosity has gotten the better of you though, here we go.  
>Ever gone to a take away or restaurant and noticed some metal ducting coming out of it? Or seen the kitchens of said places, and wondered why there's a metal canopy over the massive cookers?<br>Between the canopy and the ducting somewhere, there's a fan. The system as a whole does two things – keeps the kitchen a bit cooler while they're cooking and extracting the greasy air.  
>Over time, that grease gets drawn up through filters in the canopy and into the ducting, even onto the fan. That poses a fire risk, since one spark is all it needs to send it up. The insurance companies know this, and insist that such places, along with hotel and pub kitchens too, get it cleaned out periodically. That's where I come in.<br>Often, 'come in' is fairly literal – a bladed scraper, a small tub and a torch and I often climb into the ducting to get the grease off it. The fans are probably the most inconvenient to clean, since you have to watch out not to damage the fan, and the canopies often have awkward access, not to mention they're put together with rivets – which all of us seem to catch our fingers on constantly, hence why I mentioned Sora's frequent complaints of 'rivets' earlier on.  
>Yes, I'll admit it's not exactly the nicest job, but as the saying goes, where there's muck there's money. It hasn't put me off eating out, though it has put me off eating from certain places, and as a result of my work I also can't stand to eat jelly, or look at brown sauce anymore.<br>I might complain about it myself from time to time, but honestly? I like the job.  
>Even with Roxas's help, Sora wasn't quite so used to getting a bit greasy in the course of cleaning a job yet. Comes with time though.<br>Right. That should be enough of an explanation, I think. Where did I get to?

Sora and I discussed my job a little more, though I can't say I really changed his mind about it. He picked it up quickly though, and just as I'd suspected as long as he did the work no one noticed anything out of the ordinary. I admit sometimes the people I work with aren't always the most observant people when it comes to me.  
>I did get him to make one small and completely unnecessary change though. One thing I found I missed while experiencing this first-hand instead of playing it was the background music I'd become accustomed to hearing. Alright, so it wasn't exactly useful in any way, but I got him to set it so only I'd notice it anyway.<br>Anyway, I use the rhythm of some of the soundtracks to time things right, so it wasn't entirely useless.  
>It seemed like almost too soon that we were getting close to Deep Jungle, so I told Sora I'd check in again when we left unless I needed him and quietly found Jiminy, who was updating the copy of the journal I'd asked him to keep.<br>"Make sure you hold on in a few," I murmured to him. "I don't want you to get lost too in what's going to happen. Unless I can reason with Donald."  
>"I'll be sure to stick with you," he assured me, stowing the journals away. I think he must have added pockets to the inside of the hood or something. He always seemed to hide them in there.<br>With Jiminy safe, I joined Donald just in time to hear the argument with Goofy about landing there.  
>"Donald? We can argue about this if you like, but that's the only world left to visit right now. We're going to have to go there sooner or later, so why don't we just land here now and get it out the way?"<br>"There's nothing there for us!" he insisted, starting to send us toward Traverse Town.  
>I admit to not being the worlds best pilot, but I'd picked up enough to figure out how to land the Gummi Ship. Sort of. They'd told me how to do it, but actually doing it...<br>Yeah. Just like Sora, I kinda crashed us into the Jungle.

Deep Jungle is one of the worlds that makes it into my list of not so favoured worlds. The air has an almost chewy feel to it, it's swelteringly hot, and I really wasn't looking forward to seeing Clayton. Then as I mentioned back at the Coliseum, if I can't be sure I'll make a jump, I'm just a little on the hesitant side. And there are a lot of jumps in Deep Jungle, let alone the vine swinging. Challenging, but I'd overcome it. I hoped.  
>Though you probably only see this world once, unknown to me I was going to see it again eventually – and when I visited it the second time, there was a lot more vines to swing from, and considerably less ground to land on. When I look back on it from now, I can see this visit could be seen as more of a practice run for it.<br>When do I see it again? Much later.  
>Interestingly, landing in Tarzan's cabin – at least I assume it's his – was not as painful as getting thrown to the Coliseum floor was. It still wasn't the best way to land.<br>"Jiminy? Are you alright?"  
>After a few moments, he picked himself out of the hood, jumping up on one shoulder.<br>"That was some fall. But I'm fine. What about Donald? And Goofy?"  
>"I caught a few hints of what to expect here. They landed somewhere else. Don't go away just yet though – I'm about to make good on my promise."<br>"Which one was that?"  
>Then Sabor, the leopard that shows up several times to annoy you in Deep Jungle, prowled into the cabin.<br>"That one," I murmured, watching Sabor warily. I knew I would have to fight him several times here, this being the first, but since this was also the first time I'd ever come face to face with any big cat that didn't have something between me and it, I wasn't entirely thinking straight. I might like them – but not up close this way.  
>Oddly, I wasn't afraid. I don't recall being afraid, at least. You'd think I would have been, but I was just wary, keeping my eyes on him.<br>Sabor and I circled the room opposite each other, not taking our eyes off each other. I was vaguely aware of Jiminy warning me to be careful and holding on tight in case I made any sudden moves.  
>Sabor was the one who made the first move though, leaping toward me with the front legs outstretched to claw at me. I brought the Keyblade into my hand as soon as my reactions let me, using the signature flash it appears in to temporarily blind Sabor as I stepped back away, feeling him brush past my legs as he crashed headlong into the wall.<br>The back leg nearest me tried to scratch at me, but I stopped it from reaching just be stepping back a second time, making a strike at his neck that was quickly re-aimed for his body, pushing him away. I found that despite knowing he'd come back time and again, I had no wish to kill him. My soft spot for big cats wasn't doing me any favours here.  
>Thankfully for me, Tarzan came to the rescue at the point, running Sabor off for me. I knew it wasn't the last I'd seen of him though.<br>Tarzan isn't stupid – just a little uneducated. It makes him a little hard to talk to, but if you're as ridiculously patient as me... well, it pays off.  
>"Sabor, danger," he warned me. This one is relatively easy to understand.<br>"Thank you," I answered, extending one hand. He stared at it for a few moments before loosely shaking it. I guess he did know some things, they just didn't come to him easily. "Look for friends," I told him. "You help?"  
>"Friends! Friends here!" Then he made sounds similar to those gorillas make and repeated, "Friends here."<br>"Show me where?"  
>"Where?"<br>"Where friends are," I continued patiently. "Take me to friends?"  
>"Tarzan... take to friends?"<br>"Tarzan take Sora to friends." I pointed at each of us with our names so he'd understand.  
>"Friends here!"<br>"Show me where?"  
>"Where friends? Tarzan go. Sora come."<br>At last.  
>I had only a vague idea of where to go, my memory for directions not always being all that good, so I followed his lead through the treetops to a long and winding trunk.<br>I don't have a very good sense of balance. I knew what was going to come next, and I was hoping my bad balance had stayed with my own body, allowing me to draw on Sora's undoubtedly better balance.  
>As far as I was aware at the time, I had been right, since I managed to follow Tarzan along that trunk without once falling off. Sora corrected me later, but that was after I'd left Deep Jungle – until then, I believed I'd borrowed his balance.<p> 


	8. Jungle Fever

It was when we reached the camp that I remembered that his was one of only a small number of worlds that actually takes place on our own world, in this case somewhere in Africa. There's no real relevance to the story in bringing that up, although it did prompt the idle curiosity that maybe it was possible to see other parts of our world in that time period. I had more important things to do than explore though, starting with keeping Clayton away from the gorillas and getting Tarzan to lead me to the Keyhole – I figured if I could lock it before Clayton met the Heartless, I'd prevent him from becoming as much of a threat as he did.  
>Out of a bad habit I'd gotten myself into since being here, just after Tarzan caught Jane's attention I answered, "I'm Sora."<br>"Who is this?" Jane asked, then blinked.  
>"Sorry," I apologised. "Didn't mean to do that. But no, I'm not."<br>Jane paused only momentarily, then figured this one out for herself. "So... this means you're not related to Tarzan, or here to study the gorillas?"  
>"Highly doubtful," the posh English voice of Clayton said from behind me. I might be British myself, but the way he makes the language sound makes me want to strangle him. Maybe it's just me, but it sets my nerves on edge.<br>"About time you guys showed up," I said, seeing Donald and Goofy follow him in. Donald wasn't talking to me since I was the one who crashed us here. I expected that, but ignored it.  
>"A circus of Clowns. Not much use for hunting gorillas."<br>"Mister Clayton!" Jane snapped. "We are studying them, not hunting them. This is research."  
>I pulled a face at him as he left, the same way I always do at that point. The only difference was that this time, everyone else saw it too. Jane looked disapproving and Tarzan didn't seem to notice, but Goofy concealed his laughter. Donald almost looked like he'd laugh too, but then remembered he wasn't talking to me.<br>"I know what you guys found," I told them. "You're welcome to search by yourself, but without me you won't get far when the Heartless turn up."  
>"Heartless?" Jane asked curiously.<br>"Don't worry about them. As long as I'm around, there's no need to be afraid of them. Probably. Don't suppose you've seen anyone else around?"  
>"No," she sighed. "Only Clayton and the Gorillas."<br>"I told you there was no reason to come here!" Donald said.  
>"That's not all we're here for, Donald," I sighed wearily. "Did you think I was going around locking the Keyholes for the fun of it?"<br>"Phooey!" I've never understood why he says that whenever he's about to lose an argument.  
>"There is one place we have not been," Clayton told us, re-entering.<br>"Forget it," I told him. "I'm not giving you an excuse to shoot gorillas."  
>"My dear boy, what gives you the idea I'd ever do such a thing."<br>"First," I snatched the rifle off him. "This." It was tossed to the ground nearby and before he could make a move for it I continued, "Second. I know what's going to happen before it happens, I've seen it. And I see you making feeble excuses for a shot you're going to take at a gorilla, trying to claim your innocence. And third... don't ever call me 'dear boy' again, or I'm going to feed your own rifle to you."  
>You could say I was a little out of sorts there.<br>"Sora, is this true?" Jane asked. "You can see what will happen?"  
>"Don't ask me to explain it. It just works that way. He'll try to suggest going to the gorillas because he thinks they'll be hiding our friends. Except they aren't, and he'll use it as an excuse to come along as an 'escort', which will give him the opportunity to do what I mentioned before. I won't let him do that."<br>"This is preposterous!" Clayton tried to sound insulted. "Are you going to believe some little boy-"  
>As Sora later described it: Wham. Did I mention I don't like short remarks directed at or about me?<br>Isn't it a shame no one told Clayton.  
>"You are going to stay here," I told him bluntly, massaging my hand. I don't normally hit people, so I don't exactly hit them straight on, and more often than not it hurts. Instead of saying anything else to the stunned hunter, I turned back to Tarzan. "Heart," I said to him. "Can you show me the way to the Heart of this world?"<br>"Heart?" he asked, confused.  
>"Heart," I repeated, putting my hand over my own, then I repeated myself again, this time putting my hand on the floor. "Show where?"<br>Tarzan looked to Jane, appearing to be puzzled.  
>"Oh dear," she murmured. "I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say, but I don't think he understands you, Sora. Can you think of any other way to-"<br>She broke off when a growling came from outside.  
>"Sabor," Tarzan and I said together.<br>"Goofy, would you stay here and make sure _he_ doesn't go anywhere?" I asked, jerking my head toward Clayton.  
>"Now really boy, I can help you out here-"<br>"Shut up."  
>Tarzan and Donald joined me outside. There was no sign of Sabor at first, only the low growl that was felt more than heard. Tarzan climbed a nearby post to look for Sabor, while Donald and I stalked through the camp as silently as possible, looking around warily.<br>I noticed him first, and with only a moments hesitation sent Fire magic at him, catching the attention of the others. Sabor was rolling, but came back up quickly and launched himself at me again.  
>Tarzan blocked with his spear, pushing the leopard away yet again as Donald sent his own magic at him, and once again, Sabor fled. If I was right, the next time I'd see him would be the last.<br>Tarzan turned sharply then, and something told me to look too. I turned just in time to see Clayton chasing after a gorilla.

Clayton, it turned out, had fooled Goofy into letting him watch from the tent flap, and when he'd spotted a curious gorilla watching us drive off Sabor he'd gone after it. With his disappearance, the Heartless made their own appearance – and with them, the gorillas were rounded up and captured.  
>Unlike the games, they weren't spread out over several areas. We searched them all, but since only the Heartless in their local varieties were present, it was clear they were being held elsewhere.<br>This meant I was going to have to go vine swinging, though my earlier concerns about this were completely forgotten. I made it through both areas without a problem, though I did have to stop while on vines periodically to deal with some flying Heartless. I'm sure Air Soldiers aren't native to Deep Jungle, but there were a number of them there all the same. I somehow managed to keep hold of the vines and fight at the same time, though admittedly more by using magic than the Keyblade. At least Thunder does part of the aiming for you.  
>The gorillas were holed up in Tarzan's shark, with a swarm of Powerwild Heartless around them. It was here I know I came up with my own limit break – I know aside from the Trinity Limit, these don't actually exist until the second game, with the exception of the low-health ones activated with the corresponding panel in 3582 Days – but I did it all the same.  
>It took me only a few moments to get the idea across to Donald and Goofy while Tarzan held a few of the less wary Powerwilds at bay, then Donald took one of Goofy's hands and I took the other. Goofy performed his spinning attack next, sending us into the middle of the swarm while Donald sent magic flying outward, and I just slashed away indiscriminately, occasionally adding my own magic to the chaos it caused.<br>In just a few short moments, the swarm was down to a few stray Heartless, which attacked and were subsequently destroyed. My limit break had effectively handled the whole bunch easily.  
>Alright, so maybe it wasn't really a limit break. But I came up with it, I can call it what I want.<br>Tarzan talked with the gorillas for a few moments in their own language, interrupted by a distant call for help from Jane.  
>"Jane, danger," he told me, sounding urgent. "Near trees, near tunnel."<br>I knew where he meant. On the way to the twisted trunk that had lead to the camp, there had been a small tunnel. More like a cavern actually.  
>We all hurried back to there, fending off yet more Heartless along the way. Sabor barred our path though, throwing me off – this wasn't meant to happen this way. I might have been surprised, and I might not do too well when surprised, but if I have to fight then I won't let surprise stop me. Even if it's a big cat I'm up against.<br>With Sabor driven off for the third time and Jane rescued, I knew what she would have told us and where to go next. With some difficulty, I persuaded Tarzan to watch over her, in part because I knew he could handle it, but also because I've often found he's terrible in the fight with Clayton.  
>I could have dropped down the vines to reach the lagoons below, but I'd had enough of falling when I first landed here, and so swung my way back to the camp. It would have been fun, but the Air Soldiers showed up once more, forcing continual pauses to fend them off.<br>Naturally, Sabor showed up again after we passed through the camp to reach the bamboo thicket, and we had to fight again – this time without Tarzan, and that meant I had to do more of the fighting this time. Even though Sabor was an enemy, I don't really like that I had to kill him, so I hope you'll excuse my not going into detail on it. Not that it'd change anything if you didn't, because I'm going on with this story anyway.  
>Clayton was not alone. I know this is to be expected, but my memories are patchy in places, and I never remembered him being accompanied by Heartless any time I'd seen or done this battle before.<br>I know different now, and I know he's meant to be accompanied by more Powerwilds. Instead, another of the Final Mix exclusive Heartless were there in their place – Sniper Wilds. These normally appear in Traverse Town from what I can gather, but here they had appeared alongside Clayton.  
>This changes the situation considerably, even if I had known he'd be accompanied by Heartless before. Normally, the Powerwilds are no threat at all, and can be safely ignored, but Powerwilds don't have slingshots, or a very precise aim.<br>Clayton may be the main target and the main threat, but these monkey Heartless needed taking out first. I directed the others to concentrate on them first, using Strike Raid for the first time here to eliminate several of them at once, and sending the finishing blow Judgement on Clayton himself.  
>He attempted to use a potion to heal himself at that point, but having followed my Keyblade after having thrown it for Judgement, I swiftly stole it from him, throwing it at Donald, who'd taken several hits before Goofy felled the last of the Sniper Wilds. A few more well placed blows sent Clayton flying, and ended the first half of the battle.<br>This was where the wall behind was shattered, allowing him to mount the presently invisible Stealth Sneak Heartless. While Clayton is at this point still the main target and a clear danger so long as he can shoot at you freely, the Stealth Sneak should and was the primary target at first.  
>I had Donald use Thunder on them, as that hit both of them together with each strike, while once more I used magic instead of the Keyblade, throwing fire at the Stealth Sneak to get and keep it's attention until I was out of magic, then reversing my grip on the Olympia keyblade to match how Ventus often wields his with both hands, and charging straight for it.<br>Wielding the Keyblade two-handed allows for a fair bit more power to be put behind it, and it wasn't long before I'd forced it to become visible again – you guessed it, with the somewhat more intimidating Final Mix appearance. Clayton was bucked off the Heartless, but at the same time my attacks had left me too close to it to react to its own attacks, and it lunged at me before throwing him off. I was sent flying through the air yet again. I really had to stop making a habit of this.  
>Goofy caught me though, allowing me to head after Clayton sooner than I would have otherwise. This time, he managed to get the full effect of a potion healing him before I reached him and took that newly restored health away from him again. He's a poor blocker, and outmatched when it comes to even an inexperienced Keyblade Master like me in a melee, and so it wasn't long before he got as clear from me as he could and remounted the Stealth Sneak.<br>As you probably know, as you dish out damage your magic starts to build up again. Don't ask me how I knew how much I had available at any one time, but I knew I had enough for another Strike Raid, or several Fire or Thunder spells.  
>The Stealth Sneak seemed to be holding a grudge against me though, clapping its hands together repeatedly to send blast after blast of energy at me. When it saw I'd been dodging this too easily, it started using the homing lasers it shoots from the eyes.<br>Goofy was invaluable here. While Donald built up his magic by attacking Clayton on top to avoid the Stealth Sneak's notice, Goofy and I let the homing lasers home in on me to the point they were very close together, then he simply blocked them in their path before they reached me. Clayton noticed this, and stopped taking pot-shots at Donald, catching Goofy at just the right time to let one of these laser blasts find me.  
>The Stealth Sneak seemed satisfied with this, now turning on Donald with the same attacks. Goofy started blocking for him instead now, while I unleashed the Strike Raid I'd been holding back, crouching low and aiming the strike just right to catch the both of them with each blow.<br>At the same time Judgement struck them, Donald hit them with Thunder, and unexpected to me, Tarzan swung in and struck Clayton with his spear, sending him crashing to the ground and between the three of us neatly finishing the duo off.  
>The Stealth Sneak landed on top of Clayton. Some people say it looked as if it was eating him, but I'm afraid all I saw was him getting crushed by it. But then, as you've already seen, things are sometimes a little different in my adventure.<br>The gorillas I'd saved earlier, along with one that had apparently been held here, were now all lining that cliff just above where I'd been fighting. Tarzan spoke with them once again, then one of them nodded and the remaining ones formed a chain. One spare gorilla picked up Donald, passing him to the chain followed by Goofy and me, while the chain passed us up to the top. Even Jane got passed up after the rest of us.  
>Then all but one of the gorillas headed back into the jungle, the remaining one – Terk, I think – spoke briefly with Tarzan, then went on ahead of us.<br>You know how it goes from here – Tarzan lead the way to the Keyhole of Deep Jungle, and Jane discovered the series of hoots and grunts that meant Heart. Tarzan told us that Clayton had lost his heart (doesn't that make him a Nobody?) and that was why the Heartless had come.  
>Donald apologised to me, and agreed to listen next time I suggested going to an unlikely seeming world, Terk made his friendly gestures with Donald, and I locked the Keyhole, gaining the chain for Jungle King and Cure magic – possibly the most used magic I ever picked up. You could almost say I over-used it if at all possible, but I'm getting ahead. Again.<p> 


	9. Traverse Town, Round Two

Without the knowledge needed to install the Navigation Gummis, Traverse Town was the only world accessible where there was something to do – namely, lock the Keyhole. And Cid would be able to help with the Gummis, though I knew we'd have to stop by and see Leon and Aerith first.  
>As usual, I checked up with Sora along the way. Interestingly, there was only one comment this time.<br>'How come you have patience enough to talk to Tarzan, but not to put up with Clayton?'  
>'Because Tarzan isn't an enemy, he's an ally and a friend. Besides, he's not stupid, he just doesn't know many words. Anyway, did you see what I did on the vines?'<br>'Yeah, but that's because I wrote that bit. I wasn't having you falling down. The Air Soldiers weren't my idea though.'  
>And that's where I found it hadn't been Sora's balance or my own that had done the trick – he'd actually taken a hand in it himself. You could say he decided to take up residence as my own guardian angel.<br>'At least this time you didn't get too badly mauled in the local boss fight.' he added.  
>'What do you mean, mauled? I survived the others too, didn't I?'<br>'Not going to get into that argument again. Anyway, what's the deal with your world? They all seem to dream about other worlds here, so why doesn't anyone just grab a Gummi Ship?'  
>'Gummi Ships don't exist there, Sora. I don't think it even exists in the same place as the worlds you're used to are.'<br>'Nonsense, all worlds are in there somewhere. I just have to find a Gummi Ship and then I can go and look.'  
>'You do realise the Gummi Ships are native to the same game you're from and I'm in, right?'<br>'Yeah, but I've figured out this book has the power to alter reality. All I have to do is write a few words and that's it.'  
>'Don't go exploring yet then, wait until you get a few days off.'<br>'Way ahead of you Liam. Your boss's doctor called him in for something. Something to do with his back? Anyway, work's suspended until he recovers from it.'  
>'At least don't spend too long away from home, I don't want you worrying anyone there.'<br>'You mean like your boyfriend?' He waited a time for me to reply. I didn't, mostly because I felt guilty at leaving him out. When Sora realised I wasn't going to say anything he went on, 'He hasn't noticed yet, don't worry. But I don't like having to act like I'm... you know. Even if you have written stuff that says otherwise... not to mention others.'  
>I guess that meant Sora had been reading other stories then. Both mine and others out there.<br>I admit I may have made a slight mistake in forgetting to mention my boyfriend to Sora before then. At least he's open-minded enough not to do anything about that, which sometimes in our world is a bit of a rarity.  
>When I didn't reply – I couldn't think what to say to that – he continued, 'I made another change up ahead, by the way. You're not going against Sephiroth, and if you try to anyway, I'll write you out of doing it.'<br>'What's next, making my adventure here into a slightly altered Kingdom Hearts game so you can play it and control what I get up to completely?'  
>'Tempting idea, but nah. Wouldn't do that to you – yet. One other thing before you go, because you're almost there. Nothing personal meant, but I changed things so you don't go to Hundred Acre Woods. I'd rather Pooh remembers me rather than you playing at being me.'<br>Which is probably just as well, since before I came across Kingdom Hearts, I'd never actually come across Winnie the Pooh – I knew of it, but that was all. Anyway, I don't like the mini-games in any of its appearances.  
>If you think ahead for a moment, this also explains something I mentioned near the start of Deep Jungle. Maybe you'll even figure out <em>when<em> that'll happen too. But don't worry if you don't, because it'll come up anyway.

There's a lot more to do in Traverse Town on the second visit, and some things that I usually miss because like a lot of things, before being here in person I never even noticed.  
>The first stop was the underground waterway, accessible for now only through the back alley behind the hotel. Leon goes there to train apparently, though I don't think he needs it. He'd do better keeping those annoying Large Body Heartless out the way.<br>Leon stole a trick from me then, before I said anything saying, "So you found the Keyhole then."  
>"Three of them. And I know I can lock Traverse Town's Keyhole too."<br>"What happens if he doesn't lock them?" Goofy asked.  
>"The Heartless enter through the Keyhole," Aerith told him. "In the end, the world will disappear – like Sora's island did."<br>"Don't worry about it," I assured them. "I'll lock the Keyholes of all the worlds I go to, and these guys will help me out with it, right?"  
>"Sora, the Gummi?" Donald murmured to me.<br>"Oh, right. Leon, who knows about Gummis around here?"  
>"Ask Cid," he answered laconically. "Take this too," he added, passing me Earthshine, the summon gem for Simba.<br>And that was pretty much all that was said. I took the shortcut from the waterway to Merlin's house so I could change Earthshine into something usable, though I wasn't entirely sure if or even when I might remember to use any summons, then headed back to Cid's shop.  
>"You again?" he greeted me. "It was quiet until you showed up."<br>"So what? You gotta tell me what these Navigation Gummis are."  
>Cid rolled his eyes – apparently that habit of mine irritated him – then told me what they were.<br>"I'm guessing you want it installed, right?"  
>"Right. And you're going to ask us to deliver a book to Merlin for you."<br>"How about I just give you the book and you get on out? I'll see you in the house by the Third District's entrance later."  
>And then as he handed the book over, the bell rang. Just once though. Cid went through his usual explanation about the bell and the Gizmo shop, reminded me I had a delivery to make, then he went off on his way. I guess to the Gummi Ship.<br>I knew exactly what was going to happen next, and even told Donald and Goofy very clearly that I didn't want them mentioning the Keyblade at all until we left. I told them it was for the benefit of the one we'd be seeing. In a way it was – I was trying to prevent something later on again, and this time I wouldn't find out if I was successful or not until a lot later on.  
>Who was it for? Riku. After we delivered the book to Merlin, Riku made his appearance defeating some Heartless for us.<br>"There you are. What are you up to?"  
>"About time you showed up. I've been going around the worlds looking for you."<br>"And Kairi?"  
>"She's safe," I told him cautiously. I didn't want him to get too curious about this, so changed the subject quickly. "Where did you end up?"<br>"Hollow Bastion. I've been going around looking for you and her too, you know."  
>"You must have kept missing me then, or been going to the wrong worlds. Excuse me a moment," I added, then fried a Shadow that was appearing behind him, then used Thunder on two more that appeared – in the process also hitting that sparking pipe or whatever it is that activates the mechanisms in the Gizmo shop.<br>"When did you pick up that?" Riku asked curiously.  
>"Oh, here and there, out and about. I've picked up all kinds of new tricks."<br>"Yeah, like the Key- aarrgh!" I stamped on Goofy's foot.  
>"Key?" Riku looked suspicious again.<br>"It's not important. Just some old key I found on my travels. It's all bent out of shape anyway, doesn't do anything useful. Keep meaning to find someone who knows more about it, but I keep forgetting."  
>I felt something land in one pocket as I said this. I suspected I knew what, and why it was there.<br>"Maybe I should take a look at this key for you." Riku suggested.  
>"Sure, why not?" I answered, taking out, yes, a rusted and bent key, about a quarter of the size of the Kingdom Key, otherwise identical for it if you discounted the missing handle. "Picked it up in a place called Wonderland. Someone told me it had some kind of mystic power to it, but I can't remember who."<br>"I think I'll take it off your hands."  
>I handed it over. "So what're you going to do now, Riku?"<br>"I dunno. I want to see Kairi."  
>"Not sure where she is exactly. But she is safe, I know that."<br>"How can you be so sure?"  
>"Because I can," I shrugged. "Don't be a stranger, Riku – I'm going off to see some more worlds."<br>Riku watched us leave, still looking suspiciously after me. I had no idea what Sora had planned for that key I'd let Riku take or what he'd find out from it, but it had kept Riku from finding out I had the Keyblade. Which was the whole point of it – if he didn't know I had it, then he wouldn't try to steal it later on.  
>We paused briefly in the house to see Cid, Leon, Yuffie and Aerith, where the others found out about Maleficent, Ansem the Wise and such. I made certain I could see out the window there, and doubly certain that anyone looking in could see me looking at them. I spotted Maleficent talking to Riku, though I didn't say anything. If I read Riku's reactions right, he was even more distrustful of her than he should have been at that point.<br>They disappeared just as we were filled in about the bell above the Gizmo shop, which we rang. The Keyhole appeared in the fountain below, and the Guard Armour showed up to make a pest of itself when we got close. It was defeated the same way as it had been before; the head shot off to force each part into independent action, then hack away. With Olympia as my Keyblade, it barely stood a chance.  
>Instead of vanishing like it had before though, the body inverted, the hands and feet exchanged places, and it became the Opposite Armour. Changed as it may have been, the tactics used against it were almost identical. Almost, because it has two new tricks in its arsenal, the first being levitation, making it hard to reach – except by shooting it from below, of course – and the second being its cannon attack.<br>Though you won't be able to do it yourselves, I reflected that attack back at it by using the Keyblade like a tennis racket. I still don't have good aim though, so my reflected attacks missed fairly often. Enough of them caught it to stun it though, and that was all it took for me to bash the helmet off and impale it on the ground to finish the Opposite Armour.  
>With it defeated, I was able to lock the Traverse Town Keyhole, getting me the Aero spell and the alteration Sora had mentioned – the One-Winged Angel Keyblade. Since Olympia is still more powerful than it though, I chose not to use it.<br>The part that I usually don't do when I pass through at this point is to go back to Cid's now-empty shop, where you meet Pinocchio. I know about it, I've even done it once before, but since it doesn't actually gain anything I usually skip it.  
>"What in the world are you doing here?" Jiminy asked him, catching his attention.<br>"No you're not," I said.  
>Then Pinocchio said, "Playing hide-and-seek." His nose grew.<br>"You know you're not supposed to tell lies," Jiminy chided. "That's what I'm around for – to keep you from being bad."  
>"That's right. I'll be good as long as you're around, Jiminy. But..."<br>"Is something wrong?"  
>"I lost father. I don't know where he is."<br>"Inside Monstro," I supplied. "We'll find him for you, don't worry. And be good."  
>"You saw that?" Jiminy asked me as we left.<br>"Yeah. We'll be stopping by there later. What I want to know is how he'll end up there too."  
>"Who? Pinocchio?"<br>"Exactly. I can't figure it out, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to ask him about it until he gets there. I hope Riku doesn't think I've replaced him though – we'll see him there too. I think."  
>"Something wrong with seeing it?" Donald asked me.<br>"It gets a bit fuzzy in places," I explained to cover. Actually I had no idea what was going to happen because of the changes I'd made, but I didn't want to admit that.


	10. Heat of the Desert

In the second round of worlds to visit we find Agrabah, Monstro, Atlantica, Halloween Town and Neverland, some only reachable after locking the Keyholes of others. Also among them is the one world I wanted never to leave, and the world that wins first place for the world I never wanted to go to – even Castle Oblivion doesn't beat it, though it manages a respectable second place on the grand list of worlds I hate.  
>I talked with Sora again, though I can't say there was anything of any real interest in the conversation. He told me he was going to create himself a Gummi Ship and stop by to visit at some point, bringing me 'a surprise'. He refused to tell me any more than that.<br>I'd have speculated on what it could be, but we ended up breaking into an argument over the Oblivion Keyblade. He insisted it was obtainable before the fight with the Ansem-possessed Riku in Hollow Bastion, I've always known you can't until afterwards. I had a feeling he'd prove me wrong at this even if it meant he made another change to the Keyblades and how I obtained them.  
>First up though, Agrabah. This also makes it to the list of worlds I'd rather avoid if possible, though to a lesser degree. Sand bores me, and baked sand is even more boring. Baked air is dry and dusty, and I don't handle heat very well. I get waspish, snappy and gain a very short temper.<br>Since I knew what was going to happen in this world a bit clearer than some of the others, I decided not to change anything if possible and to get it done in the shortest time possible. Sightseeing didn't happen here, even though there's probably a few interesting sights around the town.  
>So I headed directly to the alleyway to find Jasmine, who introduced herself, pointed out her royal background, Jafar's seizure of Agrabah and his search for the Keyhole. When she mentioned Aladdin, Jafar made his appearance.<br>"Where might I find this... street rat?" he asked us, looking down his nose at us. He pronounced 'street rat' as if just speaking the words was unfathomably dirty.  
>"Jasmine, run," I snapped, bringing the Keyblade into sight. "Leave him to me."<br>"Ah, so you are the boy who holds the key?" he asked as she left. "Perhaps we can come to some agreement?"  
>"Forget it," I spat. "I don't deal with backstabbing serpents like you."<br>"My, such a sharp tongue... better watch it, or it'll land you in trouble."  
>He left us to deal with his Heartless, which didn't last long. I fell back to wielding the Keyblade two-handed again, dishing out more damage so I could get this over with quicker.<br>"He escaped!" Goofy pointed out when they were gone.  
>"We'll see him again," I replied. "Just stay with me."<br>Next stop was Aladdin's house, where we freed the magic carpet. It did its odd bowing act, then headed into the desert. Or rather, it tried to.  
>"You're taking us with you," I told it, holding it until Donald and Goofy had boarded.<br>It took us directly to the entrance to the Cave of Wonders, with Aladdin struggling to hold off the Heartless and to get out of the sinking sand pit. The carpet allowed us to haul him up out of the pit as we flew past, and I dealt with the Heartless as we headed back up into the air with some more light shot from the Keyblade, emphasised with Blizzard – which I had completely forgotten I'd earned from the Trickmaster, and never used before then – and Thunder.  
>Then the Guardian of the Cave of Wonders started snapping at us, and short of flying away – which I didn't really want to do just yet – it had enough reach to be a real problem. Aladdin's first wish, and my introduction to the Genie happened there to still the Guardian before we left.<br>We handled the introductions on the way back to Agrabah, where he almost used his second wish on being a prince, until I reminded him Jasmine was in trouble. Along the way, Genie was promised freedom with his third wish, and I mentioned the Keyhole. It saves time doing that all before we get to Aladdin's house, and it also doesn't alter much.  
>As we headed over Agrabah, I spotted Jafar and Jasmine outside the palace through a break in all the towering buildings there.<br>"To the Palace Gates!" I told them. Donald had already advised them that I was not in the best of moods, and not to argue with me. Donald has more sense then he appears to.  
>I hesitated when Aladdin and Jafar had their exchange – I could stop Iago from taking the lamp, but at what cost? I knew what would happen if I didn't change things, but what would happen if I did?<br>I hesitated just a moment too long, and that choice was made for me – the lamp got stolen, Jasmine dropped into a pot and the Pot Centipede was formed. Needless to say that being made from baked pottery, it doesn't take long to shatter it into a lot of shards. I kept it focused on me, probably because once I shattered the pots in between, I concentrated on it's ugly head. Aero kept it from harming me as much as it should, and a couple of Cures kept me up for longer.  
>Jasmine, of course, was not in any of the pots. Riku had already spirited her away, though how he managed to retrieve her from any of the pots without my spotting him was beyond me.<br>Next stop, the Cave of Wonders. With the Guardians stilled earlier, there was no problem with getting in. Since the inside is cooler than the outside desert, I became at least slightly more sociable, though Donald kept a close eye on me anyway.  
>The Cave of Wonders, at least on this visit, was not all that interesting. The only thing about it that's ever interested me is how it continually changes it's layout, and why some rooms – such as the lamp chamber – stay with it through those. Although by a different route, Roxas goes to the same lamp chamber I was headed to.<br>Along the way, this small consideration led me to wonder what Roxas would be like as my Nobody instead of Sora's – he may be formed from Ventus's Heart, hence his differing appearance, but a fair bit of Sora comes through to him, even after Xion takes some of it.  
>And that of course brings up the question of what Xion would be like – she is arguably more like Sora than Roxas is, being created from his memories. If she were created from mine instead...<br>Those two would be two potential changes I wouldn't be able to do anything about, and that could cause a great deal of trouble later on. Sora was on the outside though, and could influence things with the book – no doubt he'd take a hand in things if he felt it necessary.  
>I didn't have time to continue speculating on this, because we finally found our way to the Lamp Chamber just in time to hear Jafar try to suggest turning Riku on me.<br>"You're going to lose, Maleficent," I told her before she disappeared. In the brief moment before she vanished entirely, she was definitely looking surprised. I guess she hadn't expected me to recognise her so soon. "And you," I turned to Jafar, "Can hand the lamp and Jasmine over right now. Or you can try to defeat us – but you don't stand a chance."  
>"We'll see about that, boy... Genie! My second wish... crush them!"<br>Aladdin started back at this, but I held him back, tugging him down low enough to whisper, "Trust me. Focus on Jafar."  
>Jafar reminds me a great deal of someone else I met while I was going through college, although to his credit Jafar does not look like him. I'd built up a lot of resentment against him while I'd been there, and Jafar was the perfect outlet for some of it.<br>I think that may have been why my choice of tactics surprised everyone else. The Keyblade was dismissed first, then I grabbed Jafar's staff, beat him to the ground with it, then pummelled on him until the Genie, apologising profusely, hit me away from him. I managed to snatch up Jafar's staff though, severely cutting the power behind Jafar's own magic, and allowing the others to attack him unhindered.  
>Using his staff to enhance my own magic beyond that of any Keyblade I had at the time, I kept my friends healed and Jafar under a constant rain of magic, Fire, Thunder and Blizzard. His staff restored my own magic at the same time, so I had no worries about running out of it. It wasn't like me to use magic at all, let alone in this kind of excess, but without it Jafar was a considerably weaker threat, and couldn't do that trick where he turns into a ball of unharmable light.<br>Needless to say, with his own staff turned against him and without access to his most powerful magic, he was a pushover. So when he staggered back, defeated it came as little surprise that he managed to snarl out, "Genie! My final wish... make me an all-powerful genie!"  
>I used Jafar's staff to slow our descent into the lava-filled chamber below, avoiding getting hit by the chunks of falling rocks. The heat was only just barely bearable.<br>"Stay close," I warned the others, scanning the upper part of the room for the newly created lamp that belonged to Jafar, held by Iago. I wasn't going to take any chances with this.  
>The moment I spotted him, I sent Blizzard – Blizzara actually, since it gets upgraded after defeating Jafar – at Iago, freezing him in mid flight. The ice cube containing him and the lamp smashed on a part of that moving floor that was above us, showering us in partially melted ice.<br>Rather than attack the lamp, I just picked it up and sent him packing back into it.  
>"Here,"I said to Donald then. "You can make better use of his staff than me."<br>The staff was twice his height, but that didn't seem to bother him at all. If it had pushed my magic up as far as it had, what would it allow Donald to do?  
>Giving him it was perhaps the next biggest mistake I made. Not because of anything Donald did with it, but because it changes things far later on. You guessed it – the kind of things that shouldn't be changed.<br>With Jafar's imprisonment in the lamp, which Aladdin promised to have entombed so no one could get it (yeah, right...), the Genie returned us to the Lamp Chamber, where Aladdin retrieved his lamp and set the genie free. I locked the Keyhole, where we 'discovered' that Jasmine had been taken – I already knew, of course – then he tried to persuade us to take him with us.  
>I admit it might have been nice to have brought all my allies from all of the worlds around, and form an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, but that would involve meddling – and I wasn't meddling, at least not much.<br>The genie did give me the Three Wishes Keyblade and the ability to summon him before we left though. It's one of of the few that are difficult for opponents to deflect, but since there are few that actually try, there wasn't much point to this yet. As for the summon? Yep, like Simba, I was likely to keep forgetting I could summon him.  
>Next stop... Atlantica. Except of course, Monstro happens along the way. And I wanted to find out how Pinocchio had gotten there, let alone ahead of me.<p> 


	11. Monstrous Monstro

Unlike all previous journeys in the Gummi Ship, I chose to pilot it myself toward Atlantica with Donald keeping watch just in case I happened to run into any trouble. He didn't have to worry, not with my incessant pestering him with questions every time I came across something I didn't know about.  
>I learned quite a bit about the Gummi Ship then, and I'm fairly sure Donald started to wonder if I was really worth the bother of putting up with. I guess this coupled with my various habits connected to the pretence of seeing what was still to come finally got to him.<br>Knowing full well that Monstro was going to turn up on the way to Atlantica, I paid little attention to it as it first went past the ship, waiting for it to come back instead.  
>"Monstro!" Jiminy exclaimed seeing it.<br>"Sora, get us out of here!" Donald insisted, though I noted not trying to take the controls from me.  
>"No, wait! Remember what Sora said when we left Traverse Town? Geppetto is there, and Pinocchio will have found his way there too!"<br>"But he's going to swallow us!"  
>"That's what we want," I answered, sending us right in as Monstro opened wide. "Hang on guys, and don't forget to wake me up in a moment."<br>I didn't experience Sora's dream of him and Riku when they were younger. I did experience something from when I was young, but I'd rather not go into it here. It wasn't exactly one of the nicest things to remember, and that's all I'll say.  
>Then Donald was shaking me awake again. I quickly scrambled to my feet to avoid something crashing down where I'd been laying.<br>Goofy quickly raised his shield to deflect another item, saying, "Today's weather? Expect heavy showers."  
>"Pinocchio!" I called out. "I know it's you there. Come on out."<br>There was a silence for a few moments, then the sound of tapping on one of the various wooden constructs in Monstro's mouth came to us, growing fainter.  
>"Ya think that was him?"<br>"I _know_ it was him. He'll be up at the wrecked ship ahead, handing a Gummi block to Geppetto."  
>I wasn't wrong, naturally.<br>Geppetto took our unexpected appearance in stride, not really seeming too curious about why we were here. That Monstro had swallowed us seemed to be enough for him.  
>"Pinocchio?" I asked then. "How did you get here?"<br>There was no reply.  
>"He's gone!" Donald exclaimed, and I sighed. "What?"<br>"It means we're going to have to search for him," I answered wearily. "Which means Riku's probably going to show up, and we're going to get lost in the maze of Monstro's belly."  
>"Can't you just see your way through it?" Goofy asked.<br>"It doesn't work that way. We're going to have to do this one the old fashioned way. Come on guys, we'd better get to it." Once out of earshot of Geppetto I added, "Not a word about the Keyblade again guys, whether we can see Riku or not."  
>"But why not? Isn't he your friend?" Donald asked.<br>"It has to do with something he's going to do later on that I don't want him to do. And I don't want anyone else messing with it."  
>"You're going to be awfully exposed without it you know, Sora," Jiminy warned me.<br>"I know. That's why..." I pulled out the Keyblade, quickly changed it to the Lady Luck one, then dismissed it again. "Even if it isn't present, the magic boost it gives will take effect."  
>"Here," Donald said then. "Take Jafar's staff back then. I'm used to fighting with and without magic. You can do better with it for now."<br>"Thanks Donald. Come on. Pinocchio will be up ahead."  
>"Sure?" Jiminy asked from my shoulder. I just nodded, entering the first of the many chambers of Monstro.<br>"Not a word," I whispered, seeing Pinocchio on a ledge. I remembered this scene clearer now. "Come on out," I said louder. "I know you're there."  
>"You're taking all the fun out of surprising you, Sora," Riku told me, coming into view. He held an identical copy of my Kingdom Key in his hand – evidently the old key Sora had created, with whatever Sora had made happen with it. Then Riku seemed to notice me and added, "Jafar's staff? When did you get that?"<br>"Oh, I picked it up on my travels. I guess you could say the same about that big key you've got there?"  
>"This?" he held it up. "It's called a Keyblade. Turns out this is what that old key you were lugging around really looks like. Shame you don't have one yourself, huh?" he asked, looking at me penetratingly, as if daring me to call on my own.<br>Donald and Goofy looked to me, trying – badly – to cover their surprise at seeing it in his hands instead of mine.  
>I feigned stupidity, which as Sora isn't hard to do. "Maybe. I don't see what's so special about some oversized key. What are you really doing here, Riku?"<br>"Playing with Pinocchio. Isn't that obvious?"  
>I shook my head, "I don't buy it. I saw you with Maleficent in Traverse Town. Out with it, Riku. What's your game?"<br>There passed a long moment where he and I kept our eyes locked on each other, then he relented and said, "Catch us up and maybe I'll tell you."  
>Then he snatched up Pinocchio by one unresisting hand and headed off into the maze.<br>Among the various Heartless that showed up in Monstro, I encountered another one I'd never come across before – the Grand Ghost. These larger, much nastier and Final Mix exclusive cousins of the comparatively harmless Search Ghosts are totally immune to all physical and magical attacks, dealing some heavy damage back whenever hit with either.  
>As I was insistent on keeping my Keyblade out of sight while within Monstro, I immediately eliminated it from the list of possibilities. What was left after magic, shield and rod were all eliminated?<br>Ghosts are a kind of undead, and in many games across many genres, the undead get hurt when you try to heal them. A Cure spell channelled through the staff clearly hurt the Grand Ghost, and several more finally finished it off.  
>With Grand Ghosts figured out, and most other Heartless falling easily to us, if not just to my staff-enhanced magic alone, we moved on through that maze, frequently ending up further back, sometimes doubling back to the start without realising, until we finally managed to make our way to the Bowels of Monstro, where Riku and Pinocchio awaited.<br>"What're you up to, Riku? Don't you realize what you're doing?" Almost exactly the same line Sora delivers at this point.  
>"I could ask you the same thing, Sora. You tell me Kairi's safe, but don't know where she is. You tell me you're just visiting other worlds, but you come here having stolen Jafar's staff. Then there's this," he held up the Keyblade.<br>"What about it?"  
>"You don't seem to know much about it, but Maleficent seems to think you already have one of your own – and have done since you arrived in Traverse Town after the storm."<br>"Nonsense," I scoffed. "How could I know anything about it if I'd never even seen one until I saw that one you've got there."  
>Our debate got cut short with the untimely arrival of the Parasite Cage, which ate Pinocchio of course.<br>This first fight with the Parasite Cage is relatively easy with Riku's assistance, but made a little more inconvenient with the acid floors, and further so for me without the Keyblade. I would have to rely on Riku's fake Keyblade – something I reassured Donald and Goofy over as quickly and quietly as I dared, knowing they would follow Riku if they thought he was the Key bearer instead of me.  
>For my part though, I had little to worry about. The staff gave me near-limitless magic, and so I was able to balance between sending magic at it and keeping out of the acid. I used Gravity magic for the first time, though I'm not really sure if it did much good. To be honest, I've never quite seen the point to that spell.<br>It was fairly easy to defend against the wide swipes the tentacles made, though I had little to worry about. With Riku and Goofy charging into the fray more than Donald or me, they were the main targets. I kept them both healed in between sending a barrage of Fira at the Heartless – despite Riku's continuing antagonism and what he'd likely do later on, he was still an ally and still deserved to be given a hand.  
>After a second barrage of Fira, Gravity and Blizzara at the Parasite Cage, it climbed to safety, spitting out Pinocchio into a pit. Riku followed him into it, followed by me and the others once I'd ensured we were fully restored on health and magic before following him.<br>"Give me back my son!" Geppetto was almost shouting at Riku.  
>"Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet."<br>"He's no puppet! He's my little boy!"  
>"He is unusual," Riku conceded. "Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe-"<br>"He can help someone who's lost theirs?" I finished. "Kairi hasn't lost her Heart. It's kept completely safe – or didn't you believe me when I told you that?"  
>"Where is it, Sora?"<br>"Like I said – safe. Safe from everything and everyone that wants to use or harm her. And I'll make sure her Heart stays safe until the time comes for her to be reunited with it. Come with me and leave Maleficent behind, Riku – between us, we'll both keep it safe."  
>"Speak for yourself," he answered. "What do you care about Kairi..." he gave an almost cunning look and finished, "Liam."<br>He knew. One word, one name that he knew. How he knew was beyond me, but he knew.  
>But I kept my surprise from showing, and appearing to be unfazed replied, "Who's Liam?"<br>Riku's cunning grin fell just slightly, then he turned and ran for the upper exit from Monstro's mouth, which lead to the throat. We gained the High Jump ability, though how the same jumping motion now made us jump much higher I never understood.  
>The Heartless in Monstro's throat were little match for some more well placed magic, allowing us to reach the stomach, where we met Riku yet again.<br>"Go to Pinocchio," I murmured to Jiminy, nodding toward the unmoving figure on one raised platform. "He'll be fine, but stay with him."  
>"Be careful, Sora," he warned me before he jumped down. "Something about Riku doesn't seem right."<br>"I know. I can't do anything about it, it seems. Go on."  
>Riku noticed us, shook his head and said, "You don't give up, do you? Why don't you come with me instead, Sora?"<br>"Go with you?" I asked. "You and the darkness Maleficent gave you? You, who kidnapped Alice and Jasmine? Where's your conscience, Riku? Did the darkness take that from you too, or did you just discard it like you're discarding me?"  
>Riku made no response. He didn't have to – the Parasite Cage made it's second appearance, and I heard the tell-tale sound of a dark corridor opening, even if I couldn't see past the Heartless to see it.<br>This battle is mostly the same as the previous one, but without Riku around it's not quite so easy. The Parasite Cage picks up a fair bit more power behind it's tentacles, not to mention it can swing itself at you or spew out the stomach acid as a nasty gas.  
>On the other hand, with Riku out of the picture, I was free to use my Keyblade again, and Jafar's staff was returned to Donald. I exchanged the magic boost of the Lady Luck Keyblade for the power boost of Olympia, then as usual, headed straight in to hack away at it.<br>The battle reminds me a great deal about the boss monster in one the Legend of Zelda games that goes by the name of Barinade, and certain other bosses throughout the series that bear resemblance to it. Of course, cutting off the tentacles of the Parasite Cage doesn't really change much, although it does annoy it quite a bit.  
>Defeating it isn't that much of a challenge though, and netted me the final spell for the collection on this round, Stop. Is it just me, or are the second round of bosses suspiciously easier?<br>At any rate, with all the commotion we'd caused, Monstro spat us out along with Geppetto and Pinocchio, who ended up back in Traverse Town. Jiminy was quickly retrieved by Donald before it happened, and we were once again on our way to Atlantica.


	12. I Hate Atlantica

As I'd taken to flying the Gummi Ship myself, I didn't get a chance to talk to Sora on the rest of the way to Atlantica, and since the entire world is underwater at this point, I doubted I'd get the chance to check the book while in that world.  
>It seems I'm not the only one that doesn't like Atlantica though. The number one world on my list of worlds I hate, for quite a few reasons. First, while not quite as easy to get lost in as Monstro, the added directions and the underwater currents make it very easy. Secondly, the Heartless make that worse, and not only that they seem to be endless – no sooner do I defeat one bunch than another shows up. Thirdly, whenever I'm swimming around trying to defeat them, I always end up triggering the appearance of another group nearby, making things twice as hard. Fourth, though only really relevant to me and my own adventures there, I'm not all that good at singing. Fifth, Triton might mean well, but he's got some serious issues when it comes to being overprotective, and they're often the cause of the same thing he's trying to prevent. And lastly, though until now I've kept it quiet... unless I'm in a swimming pool or very small lake, the moment I know water has closed over my head, I panic. It doesn't matter if I can see the sea floor underneath me or how clearly I can see, it just happens every time.<br>This world was not one I wanted to go to, and it showed when I stopped us just outside.  
>"There's nowhere to land," Goofy pointed out, thinking this was why I'd stopped. "It's all water."<br>"Doesn't matter, not with my magic," Donald insisted. "Just leave it to me."  
>"Are you alright Sora?" Jiminy asked, concerned. "You're looking... a little green around the gills."<br>"Please, don't," I told him in a pained tone. "I'm not looking forward to this. Joking about it isn't going to make it any easier."  
>"We could come back later," Donald suggested. "There's two other worlds we could go to."<br>"We'd still have to come here again though," I pointed out. "The Keyhole has to be locked. The Heartless are already here, if we do nothing it'll only be a matter of time before they find the Keyhole. Just give me a few moments to myself first. Keep an eye out for passing Heartless, Donald."  
>There isn't all that much room up in the Gummi Ship, but there was enough that I could get the book out without anyone else seeing. I wrote in it three words.<br>'Do something, Sora.'  
>'Like what?'<br>'I don't know. Anything. Just don't make me have to go to this world, or at least don't make it take long.'  
>'There isn't anything I can do except try to limit the Heartless a bit. The rest is up to you.'<br>'Thanks Sora,' I wrote sarcastically, though that probably got lost in the words. 'What was behind that Keyblade of Riku's, by the way?'  
>'It's a fake, don't worry. It's a bit like Xion's one. Actually, it'll end up being her one, but that won't happen yet. You've changed a lot of Riku's part of the story, Liam – be very careful what you do next time you meet him. I don't dare make any more changes to him myself. Now go on – go swimming.'<br>With that closing remark, it was clear I wasn't getting out of this. I'd have to bear it.  
>"Alright," I announced, getting up again. "I don't like this, but we don't have a choice. No one mention the Keyblade or Keyhole, because we'll end up causing trouble if we're not careful, so I'm going to handle it myself. If any locals ask, we're from another ocean. Now lets get on with this before I change my mind."<p>

Unlike Sora, while in Atlantica I don't become a merman. Or merboy, depending on who you ask. Technically I do, but it depends on your definitions. Sora becomes half-dolphin. I wasn't sure at the time what I became, but Sora later told me my own change there made me half-swordfish. Apparently it's because I'm so sharp mentally.  
>Splashing down into the oceans of Atlantica was a lot like taking an exceptionally high dive, not something I've ever done myself. Once you get past the water rushing towards you, it's actually sort of fun.<br>In retrospect, it's probably a good thing Donald's magic allowed us to breath underwater, otherwise I'd have been in trouble the moment I was in the water. I imagine I looked fairly ridiculous, floundering around underwater with the silvery tail I'd gained. Due to that, I didn't sink down as low as the others did, so they didn't notice, being more concerned with not sinking all the way.  
>It gave me the opportunity to try and calm myself at least a little, and gain some measure of control. Also unlike him, I can swim, and not too badly at that. I know enough to be able to swim fairly effectively with a tail, and so was able to join the others just in time to see Ariel and her friends stop by.<br>Sebastian's a bit slower than the others, so he was complaining about being left behind. Then he met Donald, who had flipped upside down to stare at him, arms crossed. Sebastian jumped back, having not noticed him until too late.  
>"Relax, Sebastian," Ariel chuckled. "They don't look like any threat to us. Right Flounder?"<br>The shy little yellow fish looked us over, then answered, "There's something a bit weird about them..." Then he nodded to me, "And he looks like he's got some kind of problem."  
>"Let's just say I'm confronting a personal issue of mine," I answered. "We come from a long way away from here."<br>"Then what are you doing so far from home?"  
>"I can't talk about it. I have to tell..." I faked a frown. Of course I knew who I was talking about, but I didn't want to make Ariel feel like we didn't need her. Without her around, I would have been lost there for ages. "Big guy, has a trident," I went on vaguely, as if trying to figure it out.<br>"King Triton?" Flounder suggested.  
>"That's the one. Him. I don't suppose you happen to know the way, do you?"<br>"Sure we do," Ariel answered. "Just follow the trident symbols on the walls!"  
>"Ariel, King Triton will not like this!" Sebastian warned.<br>"Oh, bother that. They're no one to worry about." I heard the tell-tale sound of Heartless appearing, and Ariel's hurried addition of, "But they are! Swim for cover!"  
>The three of them took refuge in a large clamshell. Despite my misgivings about the local Heartless, it didn't seem like I had any choice – I was going to have to fight them, and try to get the hang of swimming and fighting at the same time.<br>It's not easy. Momentum keeps you going a lot of the time, so often at first I only managed a few light blows before I drifted out of reach. It took me a little time to figure out how to counter that drift, and even then I still didn't exactly do too well.  
>It's harder than it sounds, because your attention's divided between swimming, fighting, and keeping an eye on the other Heartless around, and since I was also trying not to end up the way I usually do underwater, I was even more distracted.<br>Once the Heartless were finally dealt with, I tapped on the top of the shell Ariel had been hiding in.  
>"You can come out now. We got rid of them."<br>"You did?" Flounder's muffled voice came. "Are you sure?"  
>"Completely. And if any more show up, we'll deal with them too."<br>The shell opened enough for Ariel to poke her head out and check, then apparently satisfied that it was safe, she emerged, followed by her friends.  
>"What's that you've got there?" she asked me.<br>"It's just my weapon," I answered. I didn't want to call it what it is because of it's relation to the Keyhole – and that I wanted to keep to myself until I met Triton. I was starting to form a plan that might get around his annoying attitude. "I'm Sora," I introduced myself. "That there is Donald, and he's Goofy."  
>She handled her own introductions, which I only pretended to pay attention to. Knowing who people are in advance is useful, and let me continue to plot how I was going to get out of having to do most of this world.<br>It seemed that Sora hadn't done anything about the Heartless here, or if he had it wasn't noticeable – not yet, anyway. We were attacked fairly often along the way to Triton's palace, and I even started to get to grips with this additional dimension of movement here. I still can't say I liked it though. I was still keenly aware of the surface up above me.  
>As we grew closer to the palace, I figured out what Sora had done – he'd set it so that each bunch of Heartless only spawned once, stemming the sometimes seemingly never-ending tide of them, and so that if I was fighting one group, no others would appear. Effectively eliminating a fair part of my problems with the world.<br>There were still too many of them when we were just outside, and in the middle of fighting them there was a massive bolt of lightning – how that didn't fry everything nearby I don't know – and the last of them were defeated.  
>Ariel went on ahead to the one who'd shot that lightning, King Triton.<br>"Introduce us, Sebastian," I nudged the little... crab? Lobster? I think he's a crab, but I'm not good at identifying sea-creatures.  
>"Behold!" he announced grandly in a voice louder than his tiny size. "You swim before the rules of the seas, His Majesty King Triton."<br>"And who are they?"  
>"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel explained<br>"They don't look familiar."  
>"Not a word," I breathed to Donald and Goofy, then to Triton, "We came from a very far-off ocean. I was sent with a message for you alone, your Majesty." I might not want to be here, but I still know my manners in front of royalty. Not that I've ever met royalty outside of living Sora's life for him, but still.<br>"I will hear your message in a moment. Ariel, you are not to leave the palace again – it's far too dangerous."  
>"But Daddy-" she protested, but he cut her off with a wave of one hand, sending her and Flounder swimming away, presumably to her grotto just outside.<br>"Sebastian?" Triton asked them..  
>"Just as you suspected. They're coming from Ursula's grotto."<br>"I see exile has taught that sea witch nothing."  
>"Yes," Sebastian agreed. "She's a big danger."<br>"And didn't I tell you to keep Ariel away from such danger?" Sebastian bore that look for a few moments, then sighed and followed after Ariel. Triton gave me a meaningful look.  
>"My name's Sora, your Majesty. These are my companions, Donald and Goofy."<br>"You said you had a message."  
>I nodded, "Those creatures showed up in our own ocean too. They're called the Heartless, and we found a way to prevent them from being a threat." I hesitated, then added, "I should tell you we were warned you might not like the idea."<br>"I will decide that. Go on."  
>"We located the source of the Heartless – if I overheard your subject correctly, here it is this Ursula – and stopped them, then located and locked the Keyhole."<br>I waited. Knowing the reaction he has to Sora's attempt to explain, I was not optimistic about this working all that well. On the other hand, if it did work... but then I'd be left with the explanation of the Keyblade and being from another world instead.  
>"How do you propose to lock it, Sora? I understand the only item that can do such a thing does not come from this... ocean." I heard 'world' where he meant to say it.<br>The Keyblade came into my hand.  
>"You mean this. It has the capability to lock the Keyhole."<br>"You're not from another ocean, are you?"  
>"No. Forgive my deceiving you, but I had to tell you about this, and if you'd known I was from another would I believe you may not have heard me out."<br>Triton regarded me for a moment, then gave one slow nod, as if this wasn't easy for him. "I will trust you with the location of the Keyhole when you have proved your theory is correct. Handle Ursula, and I will believe you... but I must insist you make no attempt to locate the Keyhole yourself!"  
>"You have my word," I answered, gave him a respectful nod – which isn't easy underwater by the way, if you're not careful you'll end up spinning around in the water – then we left.<br>This was a bit of a problem. To get Ursula to show up, I'd need to follow the proper storyline, and that meant Ariel would find the Crystal Trident – and if I was there when she tried to show the Keyhole with it, Triton would suspect me of breaking the same word I'd just given him.


	13. and Ursula too

Ariel had been waiting outside for me, and invited me over to her grotto. The place is like a series of shelves leading all the way up to the surface, filled with all manner of things from a surface world. There were a few things there that even I couldn't put a name to.  
>"Flounder and I gathered all these things when they drifted into our oceans. We think they're all from other worlds... and I want to go visit them someday."<br>"Maybe someday you will," I told her. "Sometimes wishes come true. But not in the way we expect."  
>"Don't you want to see other worlds too?"<br>"Of course. But that doesn't mean there's not plenty to see here too."  
>"I know!" Ariel exclaimed suddenly. I had a bad feeling about this already. "There's a sunken ship not far from here. If I can find my dolphin friend, he'll take us past the strong currents blocking the way, and we can explore it!"<br>My bad feeling was well placed.  
>"What about your father?" Even as I said it, I knew it was a lost cause. "He did say..."<br>"Oh, bother him. He never lets me do anything. He thinks I'm just a little girl and don't know any better."  
>"At least promise me something, Ariel? If we find anything there, we leave it there – no matter how interesting it is."<br>"But why?"  
>"If I'm with you I can keep you safe from the Heartless – those creatures that keep showing up. But if you bring something back here, and your father finds out, he'll know you'll have left the palace. If you don't bring anything back, he won't know, and I can tell him I was with you only to keep you safe." I turned to Sebastian and added, "He'd understand that, wouldn't he?"<br>"He'd not like it if he found out about this!" Sebastian insisted.  
>"But he'd understand?" I pressed.<br>"I think so. But don't you go pushing it now!"  
>Ariel considered it, then nodded. "I promise. We'll leave anything we find right were we found it."<br>At least that should help prevent too much trouble from happening – or at least I thought so.  
>It took us a while to successfully reach her dolphin friend, since Heartless showed up every time we got close. Ariel displayed some magical talent in self-defence during those battles, though nothing on the scale of Donald. I was the still the one doing most of the work, as usual.<br>When we eventually did catch the attention of the dolphin, I thought it'd be easy to keep hold of it while we were taken past the stronger currents. It's not as easy as it sounds, because despite Donald's magic, it's still hard to keep hold of anything that's wet, even underwater. It took a few attempts before I got the hang of it, and even then the others had already been taken on ahead to the sunken ship.  
>I was tempted to wait for Glut, the shark that shows up here, but I also knew well he wasn't going to show up until after we'd gone inside the ship. Those damn rail road tracks again; unless I make enough changes to derail them, I end up having to go through pretty much the same events as Sora does. Still, predictability has its good points.<br>Naturally, Ariel found the crystal trident.  
>"Don't forget your promise," I reminded her. "Leave it here."<br>"But it's so pretty... and I'm sure I've seen it before."  
>"Leave it here, Ariel," I insisted.<br>"But Sora-"  
>"Leave it," I repeated again, slower with clear emphasis. I had to make it clear to her I wasn't going to let her take it.<br>I was stopped from further persuasion because Glut showed up, smashing the remaining windows of the cabin we were in. He got stuck in them, snapping away just out of reach of us, but broke off after a few short attacks, circling the ship outside, waiting for us to emerge from it.  
>We did so, going after him to finish him off. I found out just how sharp shark teeth are then. I always seem to end up finding out these kinds of things the hard way. At least here, I never had to find out what the resulting injuries looked like, but I could still feel it. Those teeth are <em>sharp<em>.  
>Glut did give up though, leaving us alone.<br>"Put it back, Ariel," I said wearily.  
>"Put what back?"<br>"You've got the crystal trident on your tail. I can see it."  
>"It must have gotten caught on there," she said lamely, picking it up.<br>"Put it back. We're not taking it with us. You promised, remember?" Ariel hesitated, and I went on, "If you won't put it back, I will."  
>At last and with some reluctance, she tossed it back into the ship, looking after it longingly.<br>"I don't think anyone would have noticed," she told me.  
>"You did the right thing there. Better to leave it here than keep it where your father could see it. You know what he'd say if he knew."<br>We took her back, opening the shortcut that ends up just outside her grotto. She then asked us to excuse her and went there, while Sebastian came over to me. Eventually.  
>"I told King Triton you were looking after her," he told me. "He said so long as you aren't looking for the thing you told him about, he had no problem with it."<br>"What did I tell you? Everything turned out fine. Now, are you busy?"  
>"Me? Uh... no, why?"<br>"There's something I want you to help me with. Don't worry, it doesn't have anything to do with my agreement with Triton." Not yet, anyway.  
>"Can't we do it?" Donald asked.<br>"You're not small enough," I replied. "And I don't have anything that would solve that. Sebastian might be able to do it though."  
>"You'll have to wait for me to keep up with you, wherever we going," he warned me.<br>"I can solve that."  
>I picked him up, and swam back down to the sunken ship, getting him to open the way to the Den of Tides – the area that eventually leads to Ursula's Lair. He then refused to go any further, knowing Ursula was probably down there, and headed back up to Triton.<br>I had planned to see if I could confront Ursula early, but after spending a goodly amount of time trying to get rid of the Heartless (A bad habit I have of trying to eliminate all the Heartless around before moving on) Flounder came down and got my attention.  
>"You got to do something, Sora!" he insisted. "Ariel got hold of a crystal trident somehow, and King Triton found out about it!"<br>"She did what? What – no, wait. Let me guess. She's gone off in a sulk because he destroyed it?"  
>"That's not all! I overheard her talking to Ursula! She's going to try to steal the trident for her!"<br>I said a number of things I probably shouldn't have at that point, though I discovered one of the intriguing oddities about the Kingdom Hearts universe. It seems that instead of just letting me say such things, they get silenced and replaced with something else depending on the world – in Atlantica, red bubbles, their size dependant on how strongly I said those things. I guess I wasn't allowed to say anything that might have given things a more adult rating had it been the real game.  
>Interesting all the same though. Halloween Town has what's probably the funniest way of handling it, but I'll get to that in due time.<br>After the stream of red bubbles drowning out my comments on the matter and completely forgetting that I'd only end up having to come back this way anyway, I lead the way back up to Triton's throne, thinking I could prevent the theft. You can't, of course, but I guess I thought it was worth a try.  
>Ariel was with Triton when we reached his throne, and Ursula was nowhere to be seen. I passed a few more comments, to which Triton, weakened as he was, said, "Young man, I will not have such language in my realm!"<br>"Sorry, your Majesty," I apologised contritely. "I wasn't thinking straight. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and do something about Ursula before this gets out of hand."  
>"I'm coming with you," Ariel called as I was about to leave. "This is my fault."<br>"Yes," I agreed. "It is. But your father needs someone around to make sure Ursula doesn't try to finish the job. Keep him safe, and leave this to me. I know," I added after a pause while Triton drew in a laboured breath.  
>He apparently didn't notice this, and told me, "Ursula draws power from her cauldron – to defeat her, you must strike it with magic."<br>Ursula is one of the few bosses I remember fairly clearly, quite possibly because it's one of the ones that annoyed me to no end until I figured it out. The second one is the one I loath more however, holding the record for the most times any single boss has killed me at sixteen times. No, I'm not kidding you, a full sixteen times before I finally managed it.  
>That was when playing it though, not living it out. As we headed back through the Den of Tides toward her lair, swimming through the Heartless instead of fighting them, I told the others the strategy. Donald would hit her cauldron with magic, which would eventually cause it to release a burst of magic to stun her, while Goofy would keep Flotsam and Jetsam, her loyal 'poopsies', busy. I can't imagine a more humiliating name she could have given them, or why they put up with it.<br>Ursula did not notice us enter her lair, and seemed completely unaware of us right up until the point I hit her with a Thunder spell.  
>"You!" she snarled, turning quickly to see us. "What do you want?"<br>"What do you think? Hand over the trident and no one will get hurt."  
>"Or I could keep it, and you'll get hurt!"<br>"Just try it and see what happens," I answered fiercely. In response, the cauldron shot fire at me, deflected back at her with a hastily raised Aero spell.  
>With the coordinated tactics I'd come up with, the fight didn't last long. Donald still had Jafar's staff, and so his magic, like my own, was nigh on unlimited. He filled that cauldron with magic so often that Goofy barely needed to do anything to Flotsam or Jetsam, and I was able to rain blows on Ursula almost totally unhindered.<br>It seemed like almost too soon she escaped, insisted we'd pay for what we'd done. Now we had to get back to the stronger currents and force our way through for the second battle. Defeating Ursula allows you to use the Mermaid Kick ability though making it just a bit easier.  
>Once in those currents, you can barely hear yourself, let alone others, so under its cover I said, "Sora, if you're around and reading this, try to find something to help me out will you?" I had to hope he was reading the book and would notice. I wasn't optimistic about the outcome of this second fight.<br>I ignored Ursula's remarks as soon as we saw her, even going so far as to ignore what she was doing. I wasn't waiting around like Sora does, I headed right for her and started to attack her as soon as I could. One of the advantages here, I don't have to stand around and wait for bosses to go through their introductory cut scene.  
>Since Ursula was constantly trying to face me to unleash some attack or another on me, I simply took hold of the back of the crown she gained with the trident. I've mentioned before how hard it is to keep a grip on things underwater, and this was no different. It worked for long enough that I was able to harm her a fair bit before I lost my grip again.<br>Sora's aid came in the form of Flounder, though at first glance it wasn't apparent what good this would do. Flounder rammed the hand holding the trident while Ursula was distracted attacking me though, knocking it loose from her hand. Possibly not something that could normally happen, but if Sora was taking a hand in things himself it wouldn't matter.  
>I caught the trident, discarding the Keyblade in favour of it. Shooting a bolt of lightning from it to finish her off would have been nicer if someone had warned me about the massive recoil it gives when it does that.<br>I could have stopped by Ariel's grotto and locked the Keyhole on the way back with it, but I decided to keep to my agreement with him, let him direct us to it and do it that way instead. Interestingly, it seemed Ursula had not told Ariel the three of us were from another world, and the matter wasn't raised.  
>One more Keyhole locked, and as we departed another of my own little issues confronted and overcome. Aside from the initial panic I'd had when I first ended up in the water, I'd made it through without any problems at all.<p> 


	14. Halloween Town

With the world I had least been looking forward to out the way, we were free to move on to the world at the opposite end of the spectrum. At least for me, anyway – Halloween Town.  
>While I don't actually get involved in Halloween itself because my birthday happens on the same day, I can't say I ignore it entirely. Besides, an entire town dedicated to it? This is the sort of place you'd have to drag me away from. I'd say nothing about the place can scare me, but Jack Skellington has a few tricks up his exceptionally long sleeves that I doubt even you know about.<br>Donald made us look spooky as we entered, giving the three of us the same appearance you're used to seeing them take on while there. Knowing Donald is easy to scare, when he insisted we'd fit right in, I treated him to one of my most evil grins, the effect enhanced by the fangs I gained here. Naturally, he spooked, setting me and Goofy to laughing.  
>We headed down the path into town. I've always wondered about that path – it never actually leads anywhere, though I'm fairly sure in the second Kingdom Hearts game it gets replaced with the graveyard and the way to Christmas Town – but before then, just what is the point to it?<br>Jack's fake ghosts were in full display in the town, with its eerie green fountain, pumpkins in the walls and other assorted Halloween decorations.  
>The Mayor was on the opposite side of town to us, a megaphone in hand.<br>"And now," he announced. "Allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares – Jack Skellington!"  
>He rose up out of the fountain, stepping out of it.<br>"Something's still not quite right with their movements," he said, stepping out of it.  
>"Another visit to the doctor?" the mayor asked him. "You know where to find me if you want to run through it again," he added, heading back to the boneyards.<br>Jack almost headed off to see Doctor Finkelstein, but stopped, looked over at me, then grinned. Or at least I assume he was grinning. It's not always easy to tell.  
>"Can it be?" he asked, looking directly at me as he strode over. "Why of course it is! Happy birthday to you, Liam!" he announced brightly.<br>This spooked and worried me. How did he of all people know?  
>"Uh... Jack," I said. "My name's Sora... and it's not my birthday."<br>Jack looked momentarily nonplussed. "But I'm sure of it. I'm never wrong, you know."  
>"Could I... talk to you a moment? We'll be right back, guys." I led him off to one side, then told him, "Keep your voice down please Jack. How did you know?"<br>"Your name? I know everyone who's birthday is on Halloween!"  
>"Yeah, but..." I struggled for a moment to find a way to explain that didn't make me sound crazy, then remembered this was Jack I was talking to. "This isn't the way I normally look. It's someone else's body, I'm just kind of... borrowing it. So I sort of have to go by his name here."<br>"How did you manage that?"  
>"It's a long story. I'd appreciate it if you'd play along, Jack. For their benefit. They have to think it's a mistake, or they'll realise I'm not Sora – and so will anyone else who shouldn't find out."<br>"My lips are sealed, Liam. I mean Sora. You have my word."  
>"Thanks Jack. Why don't you go on ahead and see the doctor? We'll join you in a moment."<br>Donald and Goofy were looking suspiciously at me when I returned.  
>"What was that about?" Donald asked me.<br>"Just sorting out a bit of a misunderstanding. Someone else who looks like me, but isn't. Just a case of mistaken identity, that's all. Why don't we go after him and find out what's going on here?"  
>"Are you sure?"<br>"If I wasn't me, don't you think I'd have told you by now?"  
>"Riku called you Liam too," he pointed out.<br>"Could just be a coincidence," Goofy suggested.  
>"Of course it's a coincidence – he called me Sora before then."<br>"Maybe someone told him something before we met him in Monstro." Donald has an annoyingly suspicious turn of mind to him sometimes.  
>"Come on guys – it's me, Sora. Honestly, don't you start thinking I'm not me too."<br>They seemed to accept that, to my relief. If anyone else brought this up, I was going to have trouble throwing them off again. Maybe Sora wouldn't make any changes to Riku, but I decided I was going to have him make some changes so no one else would make the same 'mistake' Jack had.  
>Inside Finkelstein's lab, Jack and Finkelstein were trying to make an artificial Heart for a Heartless on the table. The Heart had a lock on it that they needed unlocked.<br>"Aren't you gonna unlock it?" Goofy asked me as we watched.  
>"No. It'll bring the Heartless running. Anyway, it'd be meddling."<br>We watched as they tried to activate it, and the Heartless made no reaction at all. I wasn't surprised – making a Heart isn't easy, especially when you focus on only one side of the feelings like they were.  
>"You could try adding memory," I suggested.<br>"Sora!" Donald hissed. "I thought you weren't meddling!"  
>"I never said that. I just said unlocking it would have been meddling."<br>"Memory?" Finkelstein mused, then called, "Sally! Sally, where are you? Good for nothing girl... I don't know why I bothered creating her! See if you can track her down, Jack."  
>"No problem. Would you like to come along, Sora?"<br>"Sure thing."  
>I had thought that not unlocking the Heart would have kept us safe from the Heartless, but as we exited the lab it became instantly clear I was wrong.<br>"Jack!" the mayor called. "Jack! We have a major crisis outside! The Heartless are completely out of control!"  
>"Don't worry mayor. We'll handle this. You've nothing to worry about."<br>Outside was overrun with Heartless, of course. Aside from destroying them with the others, I paid them little attention – even beating up Heartless gets boring after a while, and by this point the novelty had sort of worn off a little.  
>Zero, Jack's ghost dog, showed up as we dealt with the Heartless in the graveyard. I've often wondered why he doesn't actually look much like a dog, but since I know very little about ghosts at all, there isn't an explanation.<br>He did lead us to Sally, who in turn gave us a Forget-Me-Not flower. I guess it could be seen as memory in a way.  
>I persuaded Jack to continue on ahead to get the element of surprise from the mayor, who'd somehow gotten past us to the next area without our noticing. A Jack-in-the-Box is definitely one of the best examples of surprise. I know that because Jack turned it on me just after we got it, making it pop out in front of me unexpectedly as we were going along.<br>Remember I said back in Atlantica that some things got silenced and replaced with something else? Well, it kicked in again here to cover my remarks of surprise, but instead of red bubbles there was a sudden, unexpected flock of bats flapping around me, the sound of their flapping masking the sound.  
>With the last of the ingredients in hand, we returned back to the lab to hand them over to Finkelstein. I knew Lock, Shock and Barrel would try to take it, and even managed to grab Barrel before he tipped over Finkelstein's wheelchair, but the little pests are very slippery and very determined to get away with the finished Heart.<br>We paused long enough to set the wheelchair back up straight before I set off after them. Jack seemed unconcerned that I knew where to go and they didn't, but he may just have been following along with them, since they'd probably grown used to my rushing off by now. He did call Zero though, who went off ahead of even me.  
>The little pests had made it to Oogie's Manor though, and that meant finding our way up that winding construct. It's not the easiest place to navigate, and even less easy when you have Lock and Barrel throwing things in your way. Little pranks, like banana skins, or thrown tomatoes and more.<br>It slowed us down a lot until I sent Thunder at both of them to persuade them to join Shock in their room, where we had to fight them. They're good at getting out the way quickly, making them hard to hit, and they're even more annoying when you go after one only to have one of the others get you from behind.  
>With four of us and three of them though, we eventually managed to corner the three of them. I didn't bother to find out it was Oogie Boogie behind it, instead I got them to open the way to reach him, since I can never remember what has to be done where.<br>Even then, it still took me a good few minutes to remember where to go next, and a bit longer to actually find the way. I don't like Oogie's mansion – as far as I was concerned, I would be doing everyone a favour in knocking it apart.  
>That comes after the first and main battle with him though, down in the Torture Chamber, which is more like a roulette wheel but with more risks to it.<br>"Oogie Boogie, give me back the heart!" Jack called to him as we came in.  
>"Alright, you asked for it!" I added in response to Oogie's unspoken reply.<br>Jack looked at me in puzzlement, so I just winked with my one visible eye – the pumpkin mask covers the other one – and nodded toward Oogie as he replied, "You want it? Well, then come on over and get it!"  
>"They're not going to you – not while you've got a Heart." I told him.<br>"Let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Heartless!"  
>I turned out to be wrong, because of bad recollection again. I forgot about the two Heartless that show up. I don't recall if you see them do it or not, but the immediately went for Oogie because of the darkness in him and the Heart he'd just swallowed, prompting him to send them flying. For a sack of bugs, he's surprisingly strong.<br>"This is how the Heartless treat me? Nobody disrespects Oogie Boogie, hear! Nobody!"  
>At some unseen command, the railings barred us access to him, and the roulette wheel we were stood on started spinning. I could have played along with the boss fight the way it was meant to be done, but Sora intervened again. You know those stubby little bat wings he and I gain in Halloween Town? They're not much use like that, but after Sora's assistance they grew into much larger versions of them, and I was able to fly on them. Jack took hold of Goofy, and between them they picked up Donald, then I hauled them all up and over the railings so we could batter away at him without having to wait for the roulette to give us access, and without having to worry about being thrown back down.<br>On the other hand, this means that what stops us from being thrown down is also the railings, and getting thrown into them isn't all that fun. But I wasn't worried too much about that, I was enjoying being able to fly. It's a bit like swimming actually, but... I just can't find the words to describe it.  
>Once Oogie's stuffing of bugs spilled out of him, leaving the Heart for Jack to retrieve, the entire mansion began to shake. I ushered them out, knowing what was going to happen, then followed them outside. I took to the air instead, watching as Oogie and the Mansion became one giant fused thing, covered in shadow globs. I circled around from the air, using the old trick of light beams from the Keyblade to deal with them. Shadow globs can't take much damage though, and so the giant Oogie-mansion was destroyed in no time, revealing the Keyhole on the ground below them. Since I was in the air, I had no need of the moon to reflect the Keyblade's light back down and into the Keyhole. Jack gave me the keychain for the Pumpkinhead Keyblade, then we returned to Finkelstein's lab to return the Heart and finish up before I had to reluctantly leave this world.<br>Only Neverland left before the great back-and-forth trips between Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion, and at both Neverland and Hollow Bastion I would have more meetings with Riku – and no idea what to expect.


	15. Neverland and AntiSora

For those of you who were already following this, yeah I just added chapter names, and yeah, I know my names are terrible. But try to bear with me, alright? Names are one area where my creativity is somewhat lacking.  
>Anyway.<p>

Before we left Halloween Town, I glanced into my copy of the book one more time to see if Sora had left me anything else to say. There wasn't anything, which worried me. I didn't want to think something had happened to him, or that someone else had taken the book from him. If that had happened, I'd have no way of getting back. Alright, so I still didn't have a way back – but at least with the book in his hands, we could try and find a way to handle it.  
>So without any word from him, I knew we had to depart for Neverland. I also knew we'd come across Hook's pirate ship along the way, and that Riku and Kairi were on board. I was tempted to open fire on them, knowing roughly where each of them would be, and so took a slight detour toward a small collection of rocks to get a little target practice.<br>When we left that area, Donald told me it was probably better if I left that sort of thing up to them, and concentrated on piloting the Gummi Ship instead. He's probably right, I have to admit. I might be a pretty decent pilot by now, but my aim... the less said the better.  
>Instead of just letting Hook ram the Gummi Ship though, I took evasive action, avoided the first pass and a volley of cannonballs fired at me – how that worked in the Lanes Between I honestly don't know – then I rammed them, though their own movements threw my aim off slightly, and we ended up in the bilges. That is, they ended up in the bilges. Guess where I ended up?<br>"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," Riku's voice came from above me. I was at the front of the ship, looking toward the back. Riku was stood on that raised part nearby – I don't know many ship terms, so bear with me. He still had the fake Keyblade in hand. From over the sides of the ship, I could hear the sound of the sea against the ship, the ship itself creaking, and the furled up sail above flapping a little.  
>I wasn't surprised to see him. I knew he'd be here. I didn't know how this conversation would go though. Sora's earlier warning suggested that any part of the story where he was involved could go anywhere but where it normally does.<br>"Of course I came here," I answered, getting up. "I told you I'm going around seeing other worlds."  
>"And looking for Kairi?"<br>"Don't bring that up again Riku," I replied wearily. "I already told you-"  
>"That she's safe? Then what do you call this?" He pushed a crate aside to reveal her leaning against a second crate in her comatose state. "You told me you knew where she was." It was almost an accusation.<br>"I didn't lie to you Riku. She is safe. Nothing can harm her while she remains in this state."  
>"What did you do to her?"<br>"Nothing but keep her safe. I've been doing that ever since we left the islands. More than I can say for you."  
>"What do you know of what I've done?" he asked almost in contempt.<br>"I know you were saved from the darkness by Maleficent. And I know she gave you command over the Heartless not too long ago. I know she pulled the darkness into the shape of Soul Eater, which I note you've discarded in favour of that Keyblade."  
>Riku looked at me in shock. I guess he wasn't expected me to confront him like this. "H-how did you..."<br>"I picked up a few new skills," I shrugged. "Once I knew Kairi was safe, I set about broadening my horizons a bit more. Learning new skills, seeing new places, meeting new people. You should have believed me when I first told you she was safe, Riku. I've seen how this turns out, and you won't like it – or accept it, I'll bet."  
>"You're lying!" he snapped then, and almost came at me with his Keyblade, but then Hook was there, parrying the strike with his cutlass.<br>"Not so fast, boy. I won't have you two fighting aboard my ship."  
>"You're defending me?" I asked Hook in disbelief. Normally he stops Sora going for Kairi, remember.<br>"Not by choice," Hook muttered. "But there are others who want to meet you, so you're needed... for now."  
>Riku created the shadow of me, which kept Sora's appearance but was a much darker shade than Sora's one. Think of Sora's Anti-Form, but even darker still. There's a reason behind this, and it's fairly obvious... at least to me. If you can't figure it out though, wait until we get to the point where I obtained the Keyblade of People's Hearts.<br>"You can see your friends now," Riku told me after the shadow had detached from me, and then I dropped down into the hold where Donald and Goofy were... not. I could hear distant sounds of fighting though, and once even Goofy telling Donald off for using Fire in a wooden ship. Sometimes I wonder if Donald actually thinks of these things.  
>This time I chose not to keep my Keyblade out of sight despite the presence of Riku aboard. Aside from the once meeting in the captain's cabin, I knew I wasn't going to see him again until Hollow Bastion, and that was the meeting I wasn't looking forward to.<br>But with the Keyblade in hand, the Heartless were naturally drawn to me, and with them Donald and Goofy followed along with a familiar young fellow.  
>"Yes," I answered.<br>"So you're Sora?"  
>"Also yes."<br>"And you're looking for a way out?"  
>"Yes again, I'm afraid," I answered a third time, seeing his third question forming.<br>"You can tell what I'm going to ask before I ask it, can't you?"  
>"Right. Now that's out the way. Tinkerbell should be here any moment."<br>As if on cue, she flew down from behind a beam, making gestures to Peter.  
>"You know what she said, don't you?" he asked me shrewdly.<br>"She found Wendy, and there's another girl with her. Care to join me in getting to them? One of them is fairly important to me." Not technically true, but as I've said before I'd already decided to keep up the appearance of that at least.  
>If I recall correctly, we headed down into the bilges of the ship where the others had been handling Heartless, back up a different ladder, then out to a small enclosed corridor and finally into the kitchen.<br>"How come you can fly?" Goofy asked the hovering green-clad boy as we entered.  
>"Anyone can fly. Wanna try?"<br>"But ya haven't told us how to yet?"  
>I winked at him, concentrated for a moment, then hovered above the deck planks like Peter was. I already knew the secret. Roxas doesn't realise it when he goes to Neverland, but he doesn't need Tinkerbell's help. If you've ever watched the original animated movie Peter Pan, you know the real secret is to think happy thoughts.<br>Donald and Goofy on the other hand didn't believe me when I explained that to them, and needed the extra belief that the pixie dust was necessary before they could take off. I don't know how they thought I managed it without.  
>At this point things were different to how they happened for Sora. Neither Wendy or Kairi were in the room above the kitchen, instead there were just Heartless there. We continued to fight our way through the ship, though I didn't have trouble getting around this time. When I play through, I'm forever getting lost, but here? I picked up a better sense of direction. Plus I cheated. I carved the locks out of the doors with the Keyblade. All except the one to the deck, because that one was strangely resistant. I guess I wasn't going to be allowed there before confronting Anti-Sora. Or perhaps it should be Anti-Liam here? Take your pick. I'm going to go with Anti-Sora myself.<br>Before we got to the captains cabin though, I put the Keyblade away again. Donald offered me Jafar's staff again, but I had him keep it this time.  
>Riku was there, of course. He had Kairi in his arms, and behind him was Smee with Wendy. He said nothing, pushing Smee out through the door and following him as Anti-Sora seemed to flow out of my own shadow to stand in front of me. Like me, it did not hold a Keyblade. Several other Heartless appeared around the room, surrounding us.<br>"Leave him to me," I told the others, not taking my eyes off the Anti-Sora. "You guys handle the Heartless."  
>"Sora-" Goofy began, concerned.<br>"Don't worry about me. If you finish the Heartless before I'm done then you can help out – but otherwise, focus on the Heartless."  
>Anti-Sora took the first strike, sending Blizzard at me. I cast Aero to brush it aside and into nearby Heartless, then gave it a solid punch in the face, sending it reeling backwards – it might be a Heartless, but it's a Heartless of me, and that gives it some human-like reactions.<br>I took advantage of that and continued to pummel on it, easily blocking its hastily raised fists and clumsy return strikes. It did think of one trick that I didn't though, and kneed me in the groin. That was all the distraction it needed to push me to the floor, and from there I don't entirely recall what happened. We ended up rolling around a great deal, both trying to get on top and beat everything out of each other, and I know we rolled over Goofy at least once, but beyond that I don't remember most of the rest of that fight.  
>Except the end, I remember that because it was above me, and I threw it off me and into one wall, where it vanished. What do you know, I'd defeated my own Heartless without a Keyblade.<br>I knew Riku should have gone for sure by now, and didn't hesitate to wield it now to clear up the last of the Heartless, then we headed out on the main deck at last.  
>Hook wasn't there, but completely unexpected to me, Riku was.<br>"I knew it," was all he said, then he stepped backwards into what was unmistakably a dark corridor. As he disappeared, more Heartless appeared, and they were all flying. Fortunately, I'd had a little experience in aerial combat back in Halloween Town, so this was just too easy for me.  
>Peter and I played the same trick on Hook as he and Sora do, luring him out into the open for the real fight with him. Hook's fairly easy, but boy do you have to avoid that cutlass. At least here, I didn't find that out for myself.<br>By this time, I'd been fighting with the Keyblade for long enough to at least be competent, if not skilled, and a number of Heartless both here and in Agrabah mostly that had wielded their own blades had given me some idea of what it's like going against someone else with a sword. Nothing compares to the real thing, but it had given me enough of an idea that I felt confident enough to take him on without bothering to fly.  
>I think I surprised everyone when I charged at him to take the first blow, enough that they all kept out of the resulting fight. Since the Keyblade, as I've mentioned before, doesn't weigh much in my hands, it allows for some very swift movements once you've got the hang of it. I was able to parry most strikes he made for me, dodge the lunges, and even make a few strikes of my own.<br>But I wasn't skilled enough to break through his own defences by myself, so once they'd recovered and remembered they were meant to be helping me, the others got me through to winning the fight in no time at all.  
>Wendy told Peter she wanted to go home, which gave me the chance to sort out Big Ben's clock and lock the Neverland Keyhole, netting me the Fairy Harp Keyblade and the ability to summon Tinkerbell.<br>You have no idea how grateful I am to Peter for that. I only ever summoned her once on this adventure, but if it hadn't been for her... you'll see when I called on her for aid soon enough though. I don't know what would have happened if she hadn't been there to help me then.  
>While Peter had been giving me those things, Donald found another Navigation Gummi. Since I'd locked the Keyholes of all the worlds I'd been to, and Sora had told me to keep out of the Coliseum Cup tournaments, this meant we were on our way back to Traverse Town once more.<p> 


	16. Hollow Bastion, Meeting Riku

Traverse Town almost never changes, at least not in any significant way. Occasionally some people are in different places, and sometimes a few new people show up, but for the most part it's always the same.  
>We disembarked the Gummi Ship directly in Merlin's house, where on seeing we'd obtained all of the spells he rewarded us with the Spellbinder Keyblade. Not bad for the magic users, but Diamond Dust or Lady Luck are better, the former if you want more mana, and the latter for a better boost.<br>The next stop was all the way over in the First District, the house just nearby Cid's shop. Pinocchio and Geppetto had ended up in Traverse Town after we got them out of Monstro, and Leon had given them the place. As thanks for that, Geppetto gave me the Wishing Star Keyblade. Only four Keyblades left to get now, two of which with intervention from Sora.  
>Cid was not in his shop, but up by the entrance to the moogle run synthesis store. In an attempt to put up with me for as little time as possible, he simply took the Navigation Gummi and went to install it without a word.<br>While we waited, I paid a call on the moogle. I like the little guys. They don't look it, but they're really, really furry, and they don't care who you are, so long as you don't hurt them they'll treat you just the same as everyone else.  
>They're also good at finding out and keeping secrets, so it's probably just as well I was the only one that went in there. I trusted the others with our savings of munny so Goofy could get himself a better shield (at last) and so Donald could stock up on healing items and the like. Mostly for my magic, since Jafar's staff practically prevented him from running out, and since I was using magic a little more than I'd expected I was running out fairly often.<br>In the interests of keeping this more readable, I'm going to leave out the continual 'kupo' they keep adding.  
>"Don't get excited," one of them told me as I entered. "Sora told us who you are."<br>"Did he say why?"  
>"He just said he wanted us to work on something for you."<br>"He's providing us with all the materials we need," the other told me from that... I don't know what it is, a furnace? "It'll be ready soon. But not yet. We'll bring it to you when it's finished."  
>"What is it?" I asked curiously.<br>"We don't know."  
>"He just gave us the recipe for it."<br>"It's taking a long time to make."  
>"Made from some rare ingredients."<br>I had a few suspicions I knew what it was by now.  
>I enjoyed their company a little more before I left, only to find the others had both returned, handing me a considerably lighter pouch of munny back just as Cid turned up.<br>"I know," I answered.  
>"That's a really annoying habit you've got there," he told me instead.<br>"So what? How about telling me what you were going to tell me anyway?"  
>"Why? You already know it."<br>"Because if you don't tell me, then I can't go and see it happen, and if that happens after I've already gone and seen it happen-"  
>"Alright, I get the idea already. The place you're going to is crawling with Heartless. Don't say I didn't warn you."<br>And that was the entire extent of that visit to Traverse Town. I knew we'd be coming back here several times though.

As we drew closer to our destination, the Gummi Heartless started appearing in greater numbers, and more often than not they were armed too. Following the earlier advice, I focused on flying us through and past them, while Donald and Goofy handled the weapons. Unknown to me, they'd gone and talked with Cid while he'd been installing the Navigation Gummi and had several more weapons added. Each of them had control of the weapons on one side of the ship, allowing them to aim for twice as many Heartless.  
>In a testament to just how much I'd learned about flying that thing, despite the immense numbers of Heartless, I managed to get us through the assault with only minimal damage done to our own ship. I paid little attention to who the others were firing on and concentrated.<br>The journey probably took far less time than it felt like. If you'd asked me at the time, I would have told you it took at least two hours, probably longer. In actuality, it was probably barely half that.  
>And then in the distance I got my first look at Hollow Bastion, then moments later we disembarked and I got to see it from inside the world.<br>I can only assume that first area, the Rising Falls, is the same canyon in which the Battle of a thousand Heartless takes place given the location of the actual tower of Hollow Bastion, and that somewhere behind those falls are the remains of Radiant Garden, soon to become the restoration site.  
>Sora will tell you otherwise if you ask him, but I'm going to admit it right here, this was one place I was afraid. I had a meeting with Riku in which anything could happen, a battle with Riku and then Maleficent, followed by the battle with dragon Maleficent, the battle with the Ansem possessed Riku, and the Keyblade of People's Hearts – and that's just on this visit alone. It didn't matter how far I'd come or how much I'd achieved leading Sora's life here, this was one place where knowing what was going to happen really scared me.<br>Cid's warning wasn't for nothing either – I had my first encounters with several Heartless here, among them Darkballs, Defenders, Wizards and Wyverns. If the swarm that had tried to stop us getting here was troublesome, this hoard was a disaster.  
>They cleared as we approached the first encounter I was dreading though, and I saw the Beast and Riku up ahead. I paused long enough to let the others catch up, then told them, "Choose your path carefully."<br>"What's going to happen?" Goofy asked me, worried.  
>"I can't tell for sure. But whatever happens... make sure the path you choose to take is the right one."<br>With that out the way, we got up onto that platform in time to see Riku about to attack the beast with Soul Eater, Sora's fake Keyblade apparently discarded. I sent Thunder at him, deliberately missing to give him a warning.  
>"So you finally made it," he said, seeing me, then raised Soul Eater again.<br>I hit him with Thunder this time.  
>"I won't let you harm him," I told him with a courage I didn't feel.<br>"What's it matter to you?"  
>"What you're doing is wrong, Riku. I won't let you do it. I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen. Last chance to turn this around and do the right thing."<br>"Why should I listen to you? You lied to me, Sora. Maleficent was right, wasn't she?"  
>"About the Keyblade? Yes. Because I knew what would happen if you knew, and I wanted to prevent that from happening."<br>"But you failed."  
>"We haven't reached the event I saw yet. There's still time to prevent it."<br>Riku shook his head, "Prevent it? Why would you want to? The Keyblade was never meant for you in the first place. You were just here to deliver it to me."  
>"Take it if you can then."<br>Riku dropped Soul Eater, causing it to vanish in a dark flash, then held out his hand toward the Keyblade in my hand.  
>Sora and I aren't as alike as I wanted to believe. True, I held Kairi's Heart within my own, and as I later found out Ventus's too. I could go on with such similarities. But the main difference is, at that moment in time, I was still afraid, and I was in doubt. And in the end, those two combined are what made the Keyblade flash into his hand almost as soon as he tried to take it. There was no contest, not even a moment's hesitation. He'd claimed it from me just like that.<br>I barely heard anything else that was said after that. Despite what I'd said, Donald and Goofy both went with Riku, leaving me with the Beast. Not even the toy sword was left for me, though Donald did seem to feel guilty enough to leave Jafar's staff with me, pulling out a different rod. Apparently he'd taken the opportunity earlier to get himself a better one just in case I needed it.  
>I was crushed. Every attempt I'd made to avoid this had amounted to nothing. I couldn't even change the minds of Donald or Goofy. Sora may have been able to just push on, but me? It was a fair blow for me, and it took me a few moments to remember I had the weakened Beast beside me.<br>"Cure," I muttered, healing him.  
>"Why?" the Beast asked me, pushing himself back up. "Why heal me?"<br>"You needed it," I answered, not meeting his gaze. "All I did was do something about it."  
>"Why come here?"<br>"I had to. Kairi is here... and I have to lock the Keyhole. But without the Keyblade..."  
>"Believe," he told me putting one massive hand on my shoulder and almost making my knees buckle. Healed or not, it seemed some of his injuries had been too severe to mend just like that, and so talking for him still took a great effort.<br>I understood what he meant. He'd come here without any means of transport, without any help from the darkness or the Heartless, just by believing. Sora had done this. I had to believe I could overcome this too.  
>I won't bore you with the tedious puzzles in the basement of Hollow Bastion, though I did make it much easier to go through. Being able to direct the Beast to other switches and such made it a bit on the quicker side. I started to get irritated at having to wait after a while and simply blasted the walls out the way instead. Beast casually noted that most people act the way I was when furious, not irritated.<br>The Heartless did not let up just because I no longer held the Keyblade, instead they came at me even thicker than they had before. I never once struck any Heartless with the staff, the sheer amount of magic I threw at them more than kept them from getting close enough to do that. The staff, I discovered, amplifies magic further when in a bad mood, and my irritated was apparently enough to satisfy that. A lowly Fire ended up throwing a massive fireball that felled four Wyverns, six Darkballs and two Wizards just outside the main doors proved that.  
>"Don't be fooled," I told the Beast before we entered the Entrance Hall. "Something's about to happen that isn't real."<br>Naturally, my warning went unheeded. He went after the false image of Belle and was locked out. I didn't turn to watch it, since Riku was on the opposite side of the Hall to me, flanked by Donald and Goofy. I must have had an expression to match my irritability, because as soon as he saw me, Donald hid behind Goofy.  
>"You just don't give up, do you?" Riku asked me rhetorically, already bearing the signature suit that came with his dark mode.<br>"Why would I want to? Kairi isn't safe for as long as you wield the darkness, Riku. I'm going to protect her."  
>"The darkness will destroy you."<br>"Let it," I shrugged. "It won't bring Kairi back. Destroy me, and she'll never recover."  
>"Is that really what you believe?" he asked me sceptically.<br>"I don't have to believe. The darkness can't touch my Heart. It's with everyone I met, everyone who remembers me. Everyone who calls me a friend. As long as it's with them, my Heart is totally untouchable."  
>"We'll see about that!"<br>Goofy did not move to block the shot of darkness Riku threw at me, which surprised me – but I kept my cool and swung the staff around to deflect the attack, sending it hurtling back at him at a higher speed. It impacted the Heartless emblem on his chest and sent him flying into the ornamental fountain.  
>As he struggled to get out of it, Donald shared a wary look with Goofy and the two tried to head toward me. Riku had other ideas though, almost absently sending both of them into one wall, then barring them off from both of us with a barrier of darkness. To be honest, it looked more like they'd been swallowed by a shadow glob that was partially transparent.<br>Evidently Riku wanted me to himself.  
>"You can't save Kairi. Only I can do that. And if you get in my way, I'll deal with you like I would anyone else."<br>"How will you fight without a weapon?"  
>"I have this," I answered, holding up Jafar's staff. "But I don't need it. I've got something more powerful than even the Keyblade."<br>"Oh, really? What's that?"  
>"My Heart. It's not strong by itself, but it isn't alone." I won't go into the rest. It wasn't an exact copy of what Sora says, since most of it I was making up as I went along, but I said pretty much the same thing.<br>I tossed the staff to my off hand (left, in case you're wondering) holding out my own hand and hoping that this would work just as well for me as it did for Sora.  
>I wasn't wrong. The Keyblade returned to me, surprising Riku. I didn't give him a chance to react to that, freezing him in place with Blizzara, melting it with Fira, then making use of the melted water splashed over him, not to mention from the fountain, to blast him with Thundara. By the time I'd got the three spells off, I'd gotten close enough to toss the staff to the ground and go after him with the Keyblade.<br>Riku managed to retrieve Soul Eater after only a few strikes, and at that point he would have been trouble, but I was still irritated. Normally I take a defensive style, always ready to try and block the next attack, but this time I went all out, I didn't bother to defend myself. Riku stumbled back time and time again, constantly losing ground to me until at last he fled to that door at the back of the hall, which locked behind him. With his departure, the dark barrier faded, releasing Donald and Goofy.  
>After an awkward pause, during which I set One-Winged Angel as my chosen Keyblade because of it's powerful critical strikes, Donald finally apologised to me, closely followed by Goofy.<br>"Don't mention it," I answered, picking up Jafar's staff again. "Just please don't doubt me again," I added, handing it back to Donald.  
>Two events down, the Keyblade back in my hands, and only three events left to do here. With the Keyblade in my possession again and Riku defeated, my confidence found it's way back to me at last. I was ready to take on what came next.<p> 


	17. Hollow Bastion, Maleficent and Ansem

Hollow Bastion is a puzzle inside a maze, and not easily navigated. It's considerably more difficult to handle when you're trying to remember how to solve the puzzles, fend off nearly constant attacks of just about every kind of Heartless I'd ever seen – not to mention one or two I hadn't yet – and not think about what's coming next.  
>Having to go up and down, back and forth, through the lift stop several times, shift huge blocks around to open new pathways, let alone the puzzle in the library, which is nearly a task in itself. I'm fairly sure I found the room Maleficent gives Riku there, but it wasn't what I was looking for, and so was left alone and forgotten about.<br>All this, just so I could get all the pieces to get past the lock and follow Riku. Except, Riku isn't who waits behind those doors in the Castle Chapel... a place I later wished very hard I could forget ever going to. That's after the next visit though.  
>"I'm afraid you're too late," Maleficent told us when we finally got through and into the Chapel. "Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed, and this world will be plunged into the darkness. It is unstoppable."<br>"Confident, aren't you?" I replied. "You've overlooking two things."  
>She couldn't help herself. "Oh? And what might they be?"<br>"First. You only have six of the seven Hearts."  
>"And the second?"<br>"Remember me?" I answered with a vicious smirk. "We met in Agrabah, very briefly. I told you then, and I'm telling you now; you're going to lose, Maleficent."  
>"You poor, simple fools. You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil?"<br>"You?" I snorted. "I can think of worse people than you. But if you don't believe me..." I just looked to my Keyblade.  
>For a so-called 'mistress of all evil', Maleficent is actually fairly easy to beat at this point. I grabbed hold of the platform she created before it took off and, as you'd expect, started beating every kind of anything I could out of her. Against common practices, I didn't bother casting Aero to defend myself, because Maleficent doesn't do much fighting herself. She summons Heartless, which aren't any real threat when you get right down to it, or a meteor shower. During those showers, I kept close watch on where they were going to land and moved aside before they got close to me.<br>This is not to say I didn't get hurt – just being close to those meteors is enough to do that. But after every shower finally passed, I paused to use Cure on myself then continued to fight with One-Winged Angel, which bursts into flames with every blow. Neat little effect, but probably not the best one for me to wield. I can get a little distracted by fire when there aren't other things on my mind.  
>Beast caught up with us during this battle, having not rejoined me when he fell for the fake Belle trick earlier. He actually finished off the fight for me, slamming into Maleficent from the side to deal the final blow.<br>She fled into a portal, and as soon as Cure and other such restoring items had been passed around, we followed just in time to see Ansem in control of Riku's body, stabbing her with the Keyblade of People's Hearts before going back to the Grand Hall  
>Dragon Maleficent is not so easy to defeat. This was the first place I used any summon, and naturally it was Tinkerbell. The second thing I did was to let loose every last drop of magic I had available, to the point that all I had left was enough to use Strike Raid once. Given that Donald was pouring out even more magic than I was and Beast and Goofy were both smashing away at her with everything they had, I imagine she was starting to regret coming up against us by that point.<br>I knew she'd start spitting out that green fire before long though, and had devised a plan to combat it already. While she was taking the Keyblade to the head from Strike Raid, I got as close as I could, then scrambled up one leg, onto the back of her neck, then stabbed it as far in as I could, jerking it from side to side to drive it in further.  
>Believe me, it hurts. Not because I felt it, but because if it hadn't been well stuck into her, I would have been thrown off by the thrashing I caused with that. Only a tight grip kept me from taking yet another unscheduled flight, and my weight on the Keyblade only made it worse for her as she thrashed about and made it drive itself in further.<br>During all that, I wasn't flung off, but I was slammed into the walls of the Chapel a few times, crushed between her and the walls. Whether she meant to do that or not I don't know, but with both hands on the Keyblade I couldn't heal myself, and she was moving too quickly for Donald to do the same. Throwing an item at me to heal me had as much chance of healing Maleficent or smashing against a wall than being of use to me, so I had to rely on Tinkerbell to keep me from defeat, the first of several times she came to the rescue.  
>When all that was left of her was her empty robe on the ground, Riku reappeared.<br>"How ironic," he murmured, his voice carrying the overtones of Ansem. "She was just another puppet after all."  
>"What?" Donald was surprised.<br>"Hush," I nudged him, but Ansem heard anyway and told us the Heartless were using her before he disappeared again.  
>With Maleficent put out of action completely until she gets remembered by the three good fairies in Yen Sid's tower, it was time to push on to the last two events here, and prove a point to Sora along the way – assuming he hadn't meddled just to have his way.<br>The Grand Hall may once have been Grand, but as far as I could see it was a mess. Crumbling carved statues, the networks of pipes and such in disrepair, and an untidy heap of stuff that looked like it had been torn out to reveal the site of the Keyhole. In the six alcoves in the opening part of that hall slept six of the seven princesses. Some I knew I'd never meet outside of Hollow Bastion, as they were abducted by Maleficent in the time before either Sora or I had a Keyblade.  
>I took a few moments to try and calm my nerves a bit, though I didn't achieve anything. This was nothing compared to how I felt the next time I met Ansem though.<br>I also asked Donald and Goofy to check on the princesses, noting Beast had already found Belle. While they were distracted, I took out the book, intending to ask Sora for a hand only to find he'd already seen to it, leaving a short note reading, 'Stop magic slows.' A cryptic remark, but fairly obvious to me at the time.  
>Riku's Dark Aura attack moves exceptionally quick, and isn't the easiest thing to block. Stop magic wouldn't have an effect normally, but thanks to this it would slow things down to the point I could react to it in time. It made me wonder if Sora was a little jealous of me – he never got such help.<br>I took the left set of stairs up to meet Ansem, ignoring the others left below. I knew they wouldn't be able to lend a hand in the coming battle anyway. Along the way, I noted the absence of a certain chest, and muttered, "Told you so, Sora." The chest contains Oblivion, but only _after_ the return to Hollow Bastion. Remember earlier I'd had a disagreement with Sora over that?  
>Kairi was laying comatose on the raised plinth before the incomplete Keyhole, and on seeing her I could feel her own Heart reacting within my own. I was certain I could hear her telling me to keep calm, though that may just been my mind's way of trying to get me to stop thinking about what was going to happen.<br>After I'd checked to make sure I had been right earlier on, making sure she wasn't harmed, I turned to Ansem, who had yet to force Riku's body to take on his own appearance and seemed entranced by the Keyhole.  
>"Remember be, Ansem?" I asked him.<br>"The boy who claims he can stop me."  
>"That's me. You asked me who I was back at the islands. The name's Sora. Get it memorized," I added, stealing one of Axel's lines.<br>"Your name is of no importance to me. You hold the final part of the Keyhole within you."  
>"That's right. Kairi's Heart. And you'll have to fight me to take it from me."<br>"You would deprive her of her Heart? Force her to remain in this state?"  
>"Better comatose than doing you any good. I won't let you have her Heart, I won't let you destroy all worlds, and I won't let you flood any world with darkness." I paused, then remembering what would happen continued, "At least not for long, anyway."<br>Ansem didn't bother to reply, instead making a swipe at me with the incomplete Keyblade, a swipe easily deflected and followed up with a counter-attack that pushed him away. This went on for some time, until I stupidly decided to use a bit of magic. Any magic you hit him with, he'll follow up with Dark Firaga – not a nice response.  
>I fell back to a tactic I'd tried on Leon and failed to execute through lack of experience mostly, quickly switching to the Olympia Keyblade, then sending some more magic at him. This time, when the Dark Firaga came at me, I smashed it back at him. He wasn't expecting that, though given his darkness I'm not surprised it didn't do much – but it did make one thing clear to him; I was going to come up with a way to counter whatever he threw at me if I could.<br>Realising this, he started to attack with that leaping stab of his, which if it misses causes shockwaves to push out from the point of impact. So long as I kept an eye on him, it was easy to make him miss, and the shockwaves were easy to jump over for me, allowing me to hack away some more without resistance.  
>The more I hurt him, the stronger the darkness started to glow around him, making him quicker. He started to use more attacks too, one remarkably like Strike Raid that was the only attack I never managed to counter, and the old favourite, Dark Aura.<br>The moment he started to use Dark Aura, I used my previously little used Stop magic. Everything around me seemed to move in slow motion, including myself, but on the other hand it gave me the chance I needed to block every strike that he tried to land on me, and I mean every single one of them.  
>In hindsight, that may have been a mistake – after a few more times, Ansem realised he was getting nowhere with Dark Aura, while the Strike Raid attack I wasn't countering at all. Obviously, he started using that attack much more often.<br>I called on Tinkerbell once more, using Stop whenever I had the mana available to give myself a chance. It was the only way I could get out of the way of his Strike Raid in time to avoid damage, and even then it still caught me most of the time.  
>The longer we went on, the more aggressive he got, forcing me to guard more than attack. I had to discard Stop in favour of Cure, and even then I rarely got the opportunity to use it.<br>Then he made one mistake. He made a lunge for me. I had enough available to slow him one more time, giving me the reaction time to get clear of the incomplete Keyblade and send my own right into his path. He ended up impaling himself on mine, dropping the Keyblade of People's Hearts, looking up to me in shock, then disappearing into the darkness.  
>With his fall, the others were finally able to rejoin me. Donald healed me, something I probably badly needed by that point. He almost moved to do the same to Kairi, but I stopped him, shaking my head.<br>"Sora," Goofy called. "The Keyhole!"  
>"It won't work," I answered, eyes on the Keyblade that had clattered to the floor with Ansem's disappearance. "It's not finished yet."<br>"Then how-"  
>"We wake Kairi up. Give her back her Heart." Donald backed away as I picked up the Keyblade. "I have to set her Heart free with this."<br>"Wait! Don't do it!" Donald called to me, but he didn't come too close.  
>"See you in a year, Roxas," I murmured, then reversed my grip on it and stabbed myself. There was no pain, no feeling of it, just an odd warmth.<br>My view was already starting to fade to black and hearing fading with it, but I heard four distinct voices call out Sora's name. Two of them belonged to Donald and Goofy, but the other two...  
>I looked over to where we had entered the Grand Hall to see them. One was my own, borrowed by Sora who stood framed in the doorway. Beside him was the owner of the other voice.<br>Sora had brought my boyfriend with him.  
>I gave them both a wink, then everything was gone.<p> 


	18. One of the Enemy

I remember my time as a Heartless with stark clarity. I can think back to that time and recall it so well that sometimes I almost forget I ever left that behind.  
>At first, darkness was all there was. Sinking into it, all around me, trying to consume what little was left of me. All I was by now was a Heart alone, the rest had all vanished when I'd turned the Keyblade on myself.<br>It was like an oppressive, empty silence. There was nothing there, but it felt as if there was.  
>Then there was a light. It wasn't a light in the normal sense – somehow in this darkness I still appeared to be Sora, though I knew I'd lost that form. I could see that everything was a kind of grey darkness all over, but there was one patch that looked the same, but somehow at the same time completely different.<br>All I had done was look at it for a few moments when it seemed to grow larger than me, then surrounding me. Blackness returned, followed by a blinding rush of real light.  
>Hollow Bastion's Grand Hall slowly filtered into my vision as the glare began to fade. There was no colour to anything, just greys and blacks and whites, much like Timeless river. Even my hearing was muffled, as if heard through several layers of cloth.<br>I understood what this meant. Now I was well and truly a Heartless. I had no feelings here, there were just thoughts. And it was hard to hold on to those thoughts. They kept slipping away from me, replaced with one single word.  
>'Consume.'<br>Heartless seek out Hearts and consume them by instinct alone. I was fighting this instinct with what little mental strength I could muster. I knew I had to hold off that instinct, because if I lost out to it then I'd be no different to any other Heartless.  
>Kairi. I had to find Kairi. She could undo this, so I could lock the Keyhole. I held onto that thought, making it the most prominent thought I had. As long as I knew that, there would still be some hope for me to make it out.<br>I started to stalk – there's no other word for it – out of the Grand Hall, then wondered why and looked to myself.  
>Despite my monochrome vision making it a little difficult, I realised I was not a Shadow. There isn't much darkness in Sora's Heart, which is why he becomes a lowly Shadow, but me? I'm hardly evil, but there's a fair bit more darkness in me, so I became a more powerful Pureblood Heartless. One that normally only Roxas meets.<br>Neoshadows and Novashadows are very similar, and without any way of identifying colour it isn't easy to tell the difference. Novashadows have several vein-like lines on them which stick out much clearer even without colour. That was the mark that identified me as a Novashadow.  
>This distraction very nearly cost me. I had to focus, get my thoughts back in order and hold onto them. By now, Riku would have sent Kairi, Donald and Goofy running to protect them from Ansem. I had to get to the Entrance Hall before they left.<br>I didn't need time to get used to being a Novashadow. Whatever I needed to know, I knew. Any attack it had, I had. Anything it could do, I could. But in using them, I would become more like a Novashadow, and less like a human being.  
>I retraced the route I had taken earlier until I emerged outside, then without a care for the risk – I couldn't care anyway like this – I simply jumped off, watching Hollow Bastion fly past me impassively.<br>When I landed, there was no pain or harm. I just landed on my feet, not far from where Beast and I had worked together to unlock the front doors. The lift here is the only one that will react to the presence of a Heartless as well, taking me back up to the area just outside.  
>There were Shadows everywhere up here, swarming toward the doors to the Entrance Hall. The Heartless were going after Kairi again.<br>Despite the risks involved to myself, I started fighting my way through them, slashing away with the four sharp claws on each hand to make an opening. The Shadows ignored the apparent sight of one Heartless destroying others. I ducked into my own shadow, moving ahead of them then bursting out to eliminate several more of them, destroying any that remained with the claws until there were no more outside.  
>The doors would not open for me, so I made use of my shadow again to slip underneath. The Entrance Hall was empty. Was I too late? I began to stalk around, searching in case they were hiding. Of course they weren't, but given how troublesome it was to keep hold of a thought by now, this was genius-level thinking.<br>Then a muffled voice came to me.  
>"Kairi, hurry!"<br>"I can't leave them behind," another voice said.  
>"Trust me, Kairi!" yet another told the second. "We've got to keep moving."<br>Five people emerged out into the Entrance Hall from the opposite door. I was still behind a column at the time, so they couldn't see me. They paused after descending the staircase, in the same place I had confronted Riku.  
>"We can't stay here," Donald insisted, trying to pull Kairi on.<br>"We just have to take a few moments to rest," Sora replied. It was a little odd seeing and hearing myself as others did, and stranger still as a Heartless. In their presence, it became increasingly difficult to resist the natural instincts still trying to overpower my thoughts.  
>I had to take the risk though, stalking out into sight, watching Kairi. Kairi was the important one, the only one who could do anything about it.<br>"Get back!" Goofy called to her, placing himself between me and her. Donald rushed up, apparently out of magic because he tried to hit me with the staff. I found I was surprisingly strong, being able to stop the staff just by putting a clawed hand in it's path.  
>"Sora?" Kairi murmured, with only a brief glance toward the real Sora. He looked at me, then recognition dawned.<br>"It could be," he said to Kairi, more for the benefit of the others than her.  
>More Shadows started to appear, climbing down from above or through the door they had come through.<br>"This time, I'll protect you," Kairi told me, ignoring Goofy's attempt to stop her from taking hold of me.  
>For a moment, my vision returned to the grey darkness it had been before I took form as the Novashadow, except this time it was being driven back by a blinding light.<br>When it cleared I was still in Kairi's arms, but this time I was back in Sora's body again.  
>"Thanks, Kairi," I murmured, returning the gesture. I caught my boyfriend's eye, and he, like Sora, gave me a wink to show he understood. Apparently Sora had filled him in already, which was probably a good thing given how easily something like that could have been misinterpreted.<br>"I think I've seen enough of Hollow Bastion," Sora said lightly. "Anyone think we should be leaving?"  
>"What about the Beast?" Donald asked.<br>"He won't leave without Belle," I told him. "He'll be safe. We should get out of here."  
>"But the Keyhole!" Goofy insisted.<br>"I'm in no condition to fight through the Heartless here right now, Goofy. Traverse Town is safest, and if we tell Leon he'll know how to warn the people who need to know."

The Heartless had multiplied in number, and not just in the various worlds. Coming here the first time had been a challenge, but trying to escape it was worse. I let Sora take the controls that time, as he's had far more experience than I had. Donald and Goofy naturally took the weapons again, leaving me, Kairi and my boyfriend to our own devices.  
>After he'd echoed some of Sora's on complaints about my recklessness, making him worry so much and a few other things, Kairi joined me a filled me in on a few things. As I'd been the one keeping her Heart safe, she knew who I really was, and assured me that no one else knew. She also knew about Sora, and also set my mind at ease with them – all the others knew was that Liam and my boyfriend were close friends who'd decided to come and check up on me, nothing more.<br>We agreed then that they'd stay with her in Traverse Town where it would be safe for them. Since Sora had the real copy of the book, doubtless he'd keep everyone up to date on what I was up to. Not that he needed to know, like me Sora knew what was due to come. I do wish he'd told me about the one last surprise in store for me though.  
>Once in Traverse Town we split up. Kairi headed to the underground waterway, Donald and Goofy went to restock again, I went to fill Leon in, and Sora went off to the hotel to find a place for he and my boyfriend to stay. At least for now, anyway – I understand they went to Twilight Town at some point during my battles in the World of Chaos. That's later though.<br>Leon seemed to accept the reports of what had happened without any trouble, then agreed to pass it around as needed and suggested I see Cid, who was back in his shop by now.  
>"I need to go back to Hollow Bastion," I told him firmly.<br>"Don't think I can let you do that with all the Heartless pouring out of it. You'd never find a way through."  
>"You know of another way though, don't you?"<br>He nodded, "Go around instead. Get a new Navigation Gummi and take a different route."  
>"From?"<br>"The Gummi? In the waterway beneath the town. I hid it there in case it was ever needed. Never thought a kid would be the one to use it."  
>I let the comment pass, heading down to fetch it. On the way back, Kairi confirmed that it would only be Donald and Goofy coming with me, and that the rest of them would stay safe and out of trouble so I wouldn't have to worry, giving me Oathkeeper. All that was left now was to get Cid to install the Gummi, take the portal and return to Hollow Bastion for round two.<br>Cid continued to warn me about the Heartless now swarming around the Lanes Between, and told me I'd have to search for the right portal. He didn't have to worry though – I've always found it on the way to Olympus Coliseum.  
>At this point, with Sora right where I knew I could find him, I could have brought an end to this right there and then. All that was missing was the understanding of why Sora's attempt to put us back in our proper places had failed earlier on. Until I figured that out, I still had much to face.<p> 


	19. The Final Keyhole

As mentioned, the portal I've always used to reach Hollow Bastion is found en route to Olympus Coliseum. Whether this holds true every time or I just have remarkable luck finding it in the same place every time, I don't know – but since I've done it on two different copies of the original Kingdom Hearts, I think it's probably always there.  
>We met the Beast at the rising falls in bad shape again. He'd been trying to battle through the Heartless to reach Belle, but with all the darkness pouring out of Hollow Bastion's Keyhole, even he with his massive strength was having trouble holding them off. He absolutely refused to leave without Belle, even though his own world had already been lost to the darkness, leaving him nowhere to go even if she would leave.<br>By request of both Kairi and Sora just before I'd left Traverse Town, I used Oathkeeper this time. It's only slightly less powerful than Olympia, and lacks the high-power criticals Olympia occasionally gives, but does give a small boost to magic – which Sora reminded me I was using a little more than I always claim I do, and so it couldn't hurt to have a little boost.  
>Sora had also reminded me that as I'd created Roxas and Ventus's Heart had taken refuge in him, I wouldn't be able to dual-wield until after he completed me. To be honest I'd completely forgotten about that ability. It hadn't occurred to me to try taking up two Keyblades at once before now, but it was too late to do that now. I'd have to wait. I did wonder why he pointed it out at that point, but there wasn't enough time to ask him why.<br>After we made the initial push that got us past the Rising Falls and back into the castle itself, the Heartless population was suspiciously diminished, and those that did appear were weaker – this close to the Keyhole, that meant something was up, but there was no time to waste wondering why.  
>I had a hunch that made me retrace the original route I'd followed to unlock the door to the Chapel, taking me through to the library, where we reunited Belle with the Beast. After they'd had a few happy moments together, she turned her attention to me.<br>"You've come to seal the Keyhole, haven't you?" she asked me. I just nodded. "Please, be careful. The darkness is raging deep inside... the other princesses and I have been holding it back as much as we can, but even we can't hold out for long."  
>"We'll take care of it. Would you care to allow us all to escort you to the other princesses?"<br>"Thanks for the offer Sora, but I'd like to remain here and have a few private words with my prince."  
>Beast winced slightly at the faint edge to her tone. I gather she wasn't entirely happy about his conduct there, but it was hardly much better than how he acts in his own castle later on.<br>It was slightly harder to progress without Beast's aid, but we managed to make our way back to the Castle Chapel, where the remaining princesses were gathered in two groups. Cinderella and Aurora, two that I'd previously never met, joined us as we entered.  
>"We've been waiting for you, Keyblade Master," Cinderella told me. I felt a little awkward at being called a Keyblade Master, mostly because I'm terrible for understating my own capabilities. Besides, I'd had help where Sora hadn't, and was fairly certain that hadn't done me too many favours.<br>"What happened to Ansem?" I asked, keeping things short since I didn't want to take too long here.  
>"Gone," she replied.<br>"When the Keyhole appeared, the darkness that poured out swallowed him," Aurora went on.  
>"Even though he's gone, it hasn't stopped. We're trying to hold it back, but there are limits."<br>"He was smiling, Sora," Aurora confided in me with a shudder. "When the darkness took him he was smiling."  
>"He won't be smiling after the next time I meet him," I told her with a bleak grin. I fully intended to make good on that statement.<br>Next were the remaining princesses, Jasmine, Alice and Snow White, the last princess I hadn't met before.  
>"Please hurry Sora," Jasmine pleaded.<br>"It's all we can do to hold it back," Alice added.  
>"I don't know how long we can manage even that," Snow White said wearily, leaning on Jasmine for support.<br>"Just a little longer," I told them. "Then leave it all up to me."  
>Leon, Aerith and Yuffie were already in the Grand Hall waiting for me. We exchanged only a brief conversation, during which Leon gave the line that Sora later gives a bad impression of, and learned about the worlds becoming separated by what we were going to do. I almost forgot to pick up the Oblivion Keyblade before I continued. Despite Sora's comment about lending my magic a hand, I equipped it because I know there's only two Keyblades with more power than it. Plus it's one of the best looking Keyblades of them all as far as I'm concerned.<br>Then there was nothing left to say, and we had to head into the Dark Depths to face off against the Behemoth. Intimidating and massive as it may be, there are a number of suggested strategies for going against these massive beasts. Like all the other Heartless bosses, it too bore the Final Mix colours, though as usual I paid this no attention in the slightest.  
>I went with the best parts of two different ones though. With the staff in Donald's hands, he could cast Gravity on it to dish out massive damage, and also forcing the horn down low enough for Goofy to attack it. If I'd tried this, or if he hadn't had the staff, this would have had a mana cost that would make it effective only for a short time.<br>As for me, I used a similar strategy to the one I'd used on Cerberus, but with one major difference. I made use of an ability I rarely use otherwise and had never used before myself, Ars Arcanum. This combo lets you keep on striking until you've chained together a fair few. I forget exactly how many.  
>With them holding its attention at first, I was able to get up on its back with little problem at all, and from that vantage it's a simple matter to rain blow after blow on the horn that is it's only weak spot.<br>Beware though, as I discovered when it takes a certain amount of damage it sinks to the floor, and when it gets up it casts a broad ranged Thundaga that's very difficult to evade. In my case it was even more dangerous, since striking the horn while it was charging it diverted the shock down the Keyblade and into me, not a nice experience I'm sure you'll agree. I didn't always avoid it though, since sometimes it started charging just a moment too late for me to divert my strike away from it.  
>Despite that, the Behemoth did not last long with our combined efforts together, revealing the Keyhole. I sent the others out ahead of me with good reason. The moment I locked that keyhole, the Dark Depths started to collapse, and anyone still caught in it would be taken by the darkness – again, in my case.<br>To make doubly sure it was locked, I also locked the Keyhole as it appeared in the Grand Hall as well. It probably wasn't necessary, but I really wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have to come back here and do it again.  
>Leon, Aerith and Yuffie had departed during the fight with the Behemoth, leaving us alone in the Grand Hall. Not for long though. All six of the princesses rushed in holding their dresses clear of their feet, closely followed by the Beast. All of them were clearly bothered by something.<br>"Sora, something terrible has happened!" Cinderella called to me.  
>"The gate that Maleficent disappeared into – there's something else in there now!" Aurora added.<br>This was news to me. As far as I knew, all that was left was to go to the End of the World and meet Ansem. Had I changed something that shouldn't have been changed?  
>"Do you know what it is? Any of you? Ansem, maybe?" I asked tensely.<br>"It's not darkness," Aurora replied. "It could be a power even more dangerous than darkness."  
>"I've got a very bad feeling about this, Sora," Snow White told me.<br>"We can't hold it back," Jasmine said at last, after having to catch her breath. "If it were darkness we could, but this is different. I can feel light, darkness... and something else."  
>"What is it?" Alice asked no one in particular. "It's so different... Sora, you have to do something about it!"<br>"But be careful!" Belle added. "Take this with you – it'll help." She handed me the chain for the Divine Rose Keyblade, the most powerful one available to me short of the Ultima Weapon, and with the synthesis needed to get that, I wasn't going to be seeing it myself. But I had figured without Sora, of course.  
>Now I had a bad feeling about it too. This wasn't meant to happen – it had never happened to me in any game I'd played before, there was nothing else that was meant to happen here.<br>With Divine Rose twitching in my hand in response to the nerves I felt, even Donald and Goofy appeared afraid. I can't say I blame them.  
>"Didn't ya see this coming?" Goofy asked me as we headed back to the Chapel.<br>"No, I didn't," I replied, still tense. "And I don't like it."  
>"Whatever it is, we're with you all the way," Donald assured me. "Right Goofy?"<br>"Right! All for one, and one for all!" he agreed. "With all of us together, nothing can stop us!"  
>"I hope you're right," I replied, fervently believing he was. The confidence they inspired in me with that was welcome all the same.<br>The Chapel itself was deserted, and the portal we'd gone through to fight Maleficent in her Dragon form was distinctly different. It resembled a dark corridor now more than it had before.  
>With a great deal of apprehension, we all looked it over, then shared a look together silently. After just a few moments, we all nodded and headed through the portal to face the unknown foe that lay beyond.<p> 


	20. The Unknown and Unexpected

The large round room in which we had previously defeated dragon Maleficent appeared at first to be empty. It showed clear signs of that battle, with massive cracks lining the walls where I'd been slammed into them. The aches I'd picked up from that returned freshly just thinking about it.  
>We warily headed onward through the room until we were on the opposite side to the portal, which then closed behind us. We all turned to look, but it wasn't where the portal had been that caught our attention. Fading in and out of existence was a shrouded figure.<br>Shrouded as it was, I could not mistake the sight of the coat worn by every member of Organization Thirteen. Everything clicked into place with this – I realised at last why I had met Heartless that did not appear in Kingdom Hearts as I knew it, why the boss Heartless had different colours, and where the Diamond Dust and One-Winged Angel Keyblades had come from. This was the Final Mix version I was in, not the original. And that meant this could only be one person. Xemnas.  
>He went straight through me before I could react, forcing me to relieve a number of memories, some of my time in Sora's life, some of my own.<br>Xemnas disappeared behind me, reappearing ahead but solid this time.  
>"What do you want?" I asked him.<br>"So you are special too," his voice, softer than I remember it being, murmured. And it really was his voice too – from what I know, in the real Final Mix the words aren't heard but here? I heard Xemnas's voice long before I met any other member of the Organization.  
>"Ansem?" Goofy thought aloud.<br>"A familiar name..." Xemnas mused. I almost corrected Goofy, but chose not to. Xemnas focused on me. Only his eyes were visible in the hood of the coat. "You look a lot like him," he told me.  
>"Tell him I look forward to meeting him again then," I answered, understanding who he was talking about. "If he ever learns who I am, that is."<br>"I will remember your message, incomplete one," he replied, then without warning he sent a blast of blue lightning at me alone. Without thinking, I brought Divine Rose into the path of the lightning, pushing back against it. It was a fair effort, but eventually I managed to push it away and up into the ceiling, damaging the room a little more. Some mortar and stone fell down into the room, but neither he or I paid attention.  
>"Go ahead, Xemnas," I said, using his name for the first time. "You can get a little taste of what will happen when I come to visit your castle."<br>"As you wish... I will test your power and see it for myself."  
>The moment he said that, I summoned Tinkerbell and activated Aero magic. This fight, I had no idea how to fight, no idea what to expect. I was going to need every last bit of help I could get. Simba, Genie and Mushu, the three other summons I had available, were also called on. Interestingly, unlike the game where your party are used up by these, they worked alongside me. Possibly for the same reason I could ignore the three-member party limit.<br>I didn't get a chance to do anything after that, because as soon as I'd finished with that Xemnas hit me with a mass of energy balls much like the first one – except with these, whether blocked, reflected or avoided, they all exploded into tiny orbs, which then turned into a mass of blue barriers that hurt on contact. I could move them around by striking them with a Keyblade, but only I could do that.  
>I learned very quickly that it was going to do me no favours going up against him in a melee without using a combo like Ars Arcanum, as many of my attempts were either blocked with a shield that seriously hurt, or he called on his Ethereal blades to parry my Keyblade and strike back at me, which was no better.<br>My summoned allies came to my rescue at that point, as Donald and Goofy had both been downed. Genie restored them, while Simba gave a massive roar that sent the blue barriers skidding across the floor. Where they impacted each other there was a small explosion that destroyed both, and where they hit Xemnas was no different. The chain reactions of this drove him back against one wall, no doubt doing massive damage.  
>At that point, Simba bounded toward Xemnas with Mushu on his back. As Simba reared up to slash and claw away at him, Mushu jumped up onto Simba's head to burn him. Xemnas didn't allow that to continue for long, sending the two flying easily – but distracting him long enough for me to land a decent combo on him even as the newly restored Donald unleashed a barrage of magic his way, holding on Gravity and Stop as they'd have no effect on him. After a time it became apparent that even with Jafar's staff in hand, no amount of magic was going to harm Xemnas, and so he fell back to healing us and taking the odd strike at Xemnas whenever he felt lucky enough to get away with it.<br>Xemnas upped the ante here, starting to teleport around the room unpredictably, making it difficult to keep up with him and harder still to land a solid blow on him. A new barrage of blue energy was sent our way, and with them the barriers formed again. My summoned allies, Tinkerbell excepted, had gone by now, leaving me without any way to repeat the effect Simba had given me.  
>It took me a long time to figure it out, but eventually I managed to see there was a way to keep up with him, by following a dark cloud that surrounded him and gave me the chance to get back at him at last.<br>This really bothered Xemnas, making him create a ring of Ethereal blades around him. After a few moments, he barked a command to them, and they all shot at me. I avoided most of them, trying to deflect those I couldn't evade.  
>Once they had all been dealt with he continued with the previous tactics, allowing me to hurt him some more until he summoned the blades back again to cause trouble once more. Then he chose to cause even more trouble, surrounding himself with energy so that if I made a strike, like the Behemoth earlier, I would only hurt myself. Donald was safe only because the staff was wooden and did not conduct the energy.<br>He didn't summon more blades or throw more energy barriers out, but instead fired lasers in a circle outward around him. Donald was short enough to duck under them, but Goofy and I weren't so lucky. He threw himself to the floor, while I jumped up and glided over them when they were coming my way, closing on Xemnas whenever I got the chance so I could interrupt the attack and get in some more blows.  
>Before long, the Ethereal blade in his hand, and the ones he summoned turned from blue to red, the only real difference being that they caused more damage. I don't know what kind of attack he used on me then, but it felt like it drained my health, and I found that trying to do some things ended up causing others. He hadn't intended to help me with that, but because of that I found the Gravity magic, while it didn't hurt him, it did hold him still for a short time, giving a perfect opportunity. Donald picked up on it just as quickly as I did, and between the two of us we managed to keep him held for long enough to really hurt him. Unfortunately for me, the effect wore off before I could get clear, and so I took massive damage from his counter-attacks. Enough that for the first time ever, Tinkerbell had to prevent me from washing out. Xemnas actually did manage to finish me off, but thanks to her I bounced back with only a hasty heal from Donald to ensure I was back at full strength and ready to go after Xemnas with a vengeance after that.<br>Then he brought an Ethereal blade into his other hand, becoming a veritable whirlwind of attacks. Nothing any of us had would slow down the flurry of blows enough to block them. Goofy was down again in mere seconds, and it was only my barring his path that kept Donald from following. There was no time for him to use Gravity now, he had to bring on a constant stream of healing magic. I had to try to ignore the sharp pain he inflicted with every blow while trying to get in my own, enough that I could build up enough mana to use Gravity myself to make things a little easier on me.  
>I finally managed to get Gravity off, the effect continued by Donald's own, giving me time enough to deliver a powerful blow on him, sending him stumbling backwards, the Ethereal blades gone and a hand clutching at his chest.<br>"Truly fascinating," he grunted. "This will be... enjoyable."  
>I took my Keyblade in both hands, something I hadn't done for a while, then charged at him. With an irritating kind of buzzing sound, he partially faded out as I reached him, making me stumble through and past him. Once I was clear he became solid again.<br>"What's wrong?" I snarled at him. "Afraid you'll lose if you don't keep using that tiresome old trick?"  
>"You could not possibly understand in your present state," he told me, apparently ignoring my remark.<br>"Oh yeah? Just wait until I'm complete again then, and you'll see!"  
>"Is that so? Then I await that time."<br>Then he faded out and was gone. The portal reappeared where it had been, as if it had never left.  
>Donald quickly moved to bring Goofy back up again, throwing a few potions and elixirs at me so we'd all be back at full health.<br>I felt exhausted despite the healing hand. Xemnas had not been a pushover. I'd had no knowledge of what to expect, but I'd learned quickly, and for most of the battle painfully, how to combat his attacks.  
>This realization dawned slowly on me, and I was almost afraid to accept it. I'd just gone against Xemnas and beaten him without any special help. It had all been within my limits, my capabilities. Maybe I had stolen Jafar's staff, and maybe there had been a few other things that shouldn't have happened – but there had been no outside help here. Just me, my friends here, and the combined capabilities of the three of us. And the summoned allies.<br>"Did that really happen?" I asked very quietly. "Did we really beat him?"  
>"If we didn't, we sure scared him off," Goofy answered.<br>"Will we really see him again?" Donald asked me.  
>"Yeah. But not any time soon. We've got a long time before that." I shook myself mentally, pulling myself together. "Lets get out of here. We've got to go after Ansem."<p> 


	21. The End of the World

Alright, I haven't been paying attention to the reviews as much as I usually do, so I figure it's about time I handled a few points raised. If you just want to keep on hearing about my adventures, just skip this bit.  
>Yep, I do more when irritated than most do when they're even worse. I'm terrible for it, but normally I don't stay irritated for long. Castle Oblivion was a bit of an exception to that, but that's still to come.<br>Roxas is a bit of an enigma. I think he counts as my Nobody since I was the one to stab myself with the Keyblade of People's Hearts. But given that the only meeting I ever had with him, while awake at least, is the same on Sora has... I never noticed any differences, and Sora was more interested in keeping an eye on me, not Roxas. So I have no idea if Roxas's life turned out any different at all because of me.  
>I know Neoshadows show up elsewhere, and others get to see them, but as far as I know Novashadows are seen by Roxas alone, the presence of other Organization members accompanying him excepted.<br>As to my boyfriend... well, aside from being worried over me and getting just a little annoyed at me when I did something completely reckless or took on some of the bosses, like Xemnas for example, I think mostly he just missed my company once he knew it was Sora with him instead. As far as I know, he's not exactly into Kingdom Hearts himself, but that's alright by me.  
>He did complain a little about the ah... dry spell we had because of all this. I'm told Sora was insistent that they not get up to anything at all unless it meant proving to others that he was me. I wouldn't say he's against people like me and my boyfriend, but... let's just say he'd rather not be involved in it himself.<br>Right, I think that's all for now. Sorry if I missed a review or two there, but I didn't want to take up too much space with these inane ramblings. We've been sidetracked long enough, so why don't we go back to my adventures?

Normally at this point I take the time to return to Traverse Town to restock yet again. I can go through a lot of items very quickly sometimes. This time though, it seemed that we'd barely touched the stocks, so we went directly from Hollow Bastion to The End of the World.  
>This world appears different to me than it does to you. For a start, there's no treasure chests around, and nothing to walk on. Much like Neverland however, the Glide ability allowed for free flight through the opening area.<br>There were no Heartless here though, and no parts that sent us to other places to battle them. In fact, there was nothing there but a few stray fragments of worlds, and two familiar moogles where we'd entered the world.  
>"We finished it," one told me, pointing to a small box on a rock nearby.<br>"Looks like it was just in time," the other said. "We're rooting for you."  
>"But from a safe distance," the first added, then the two were gone.<br>Inside the box was a short chain, on the end of which was a gilded heart token. When set in place of the chain that gave me Divine Rose, my Keyblade became Ultima Weapon, the most powerful of them all. Aside from these adventures, I'd never once obtained this Keyblade before. With it in hand, I was about as ready as I could ever be.  
>"Why don't we go save the world?" I asked the others then. "All worlds, that is."<br>"All we gotta do is defeat Ansem, right?" Goofy asked.  
>"But what'll happen to this place if we do?" Donald wondered. "And us?"<br>"This world will probably disappear," I answered. "But us? We've still got tons to do after this."  
>Without any Heartless to slow us down, it wasn't long before we reached the massive canyon that appears. Maybe it's just me, but it sort of reminds me of Atlantica a bit, but without the water.<br>It too was totally deserted but for us though, allowing us to descend and find our way to the World Terminus.  
>This naturally sent us back to each of the worlds we had visited to defeat several waves of Heartless there, giving me a chance to get to grips with Ultima Weapon. Unlike the other Keyblades, it wasn't weightless, so I had to get used to that. I found it easier to take it in both hands rather than single handed. Maybe Ventus has the right idea about wielding them, because you can add a bit more of your own power behind it that way too. I did make sure I could wield it one-handed just as well though.<br>Going through the worlds here was the only time I ever saw Hundred Acre Woods. You get it as a save point, I got it as a sorely needed moment's reprieve. After going through nine different areas and fighting the Heartless in each with barely a few moments break between them, I definitely needed it. I wasn't going to come up against Ansem at anything less than full strength if I could help it.  
>Next we had to face off against the massive black demon Chernabog. Most of his attacks are based on fire, highly damaging, and difficult to evade. Most people who go against him don't have Jafar's staff, or some neat little ideas I'd come up with during that break to deal with him.<br>You can fly freely in this area, but the first thing I did was land at the tip of the volcano to summon Tinkerbell while Goofy headed right in to bash away at Chernabog. As soon as Tinkerbell was by our side again, I joined him, avoiding the massive fists and bursts of flame.  
>Donald meanwhile hung back, healing us when he had to, but otherwise keeping well out of the way. He was key to executing my plan.<br>When Chernabog bent over as if hurt, I gave Donald the signal to quickly glide over and behind him, followed by us. When Chernabog raised back up again, the volcano erupted and he and I hit the lava with every last bit of magic we could put into Blizzard spells.  
>This did not exactly protect us from the lava or even harm Chernabog, but it did give a massive hissing cloud of superheated steam from the ice we were sending at it, the steam making it very difficult to see. We had the upper hand here, Chernabog was big enough to make out in that cloud, and his eyes only made it easier for us to target him. He on the other hand couldn't seem to find us, throwing fire and even beams of light out seemingly at random, but never finding his target.<br>Finally, in a fit of rage he flapped those great batlike wings of his to blow the clouds we'd created away, but by that time it was too late, we'd managed to deal out so much damage under that cover that a single beam of light from my Keyblade finished him off. One more boss defeated.  
>With his defeat, a path into the volcano opened. In it are parts of several worlds that I'd never been to and with the exception of one never would. Parts from Enchanted Dominion, Dwarf Woodlands, the Castle of Dreams, and the Beast's Castle. The worlds of each of the princesses that I hadn't come across before seeing them in Hollow Bastion.<br>After fighting with an Arc Behemoth, a slightly weaker cousin to the normal Behemoth, and another swarm of Heartless, we were given the last safe area to rest in before the final confrontations with Ansem.  
>"Where is this?" Donald asked when we finally agreed we were ready to pass through the portal.<br>"Destiny Islands," I answered, then after a moments hesitation I recalled they thought I was Sora still, so added, "My home. Stay with me, and don't wander off."  
>We'd appeared up where Sora first gets told by Kairi what they need for the raft on the first day, so ignoring Ansem's remarks I headed to the main beach. As we progressed, parts of the islands started to disappear, then the water turned purple. When I stopped, Ansem appeared, once more bearing Riku's appearance while in dark mode.<br>"Save it," I told him. "I don't want to hear about the darkness or your flawed idea that everything comes from it and goes to it."  
>"So you have come this far, and yet you understand nothing?" he asked, turning to face me.<br>"Don't bother. I told you, Ansem. I said I'd stop you when I first saw you here. Now we're here again, and it's time for me to make good on that."  
>Ansem took on his own form now, the Guardian appearing behind him. This was it, the first of the three final battles.<br>For reasons I can't understand, at this point he actually goes easy on you. It makes it fairly easy to get him, at least until he starts fighting back. The Guardian is the real pest in this battle, making it difficult to reach Ansem if your strike hits it first, and even more annoying when he calls it in front of him at the wrong moment.  
>He didn't go much on the offensive either, I noticed. When he wasn't throwing easily evaded disks of energy at me, it was the Guardian trying to punch me, something that was just as easy to get out of.<br>I did learn to hate him for his last attack though, where the Guardian detached itself from him and tried to attach itself to me instead. While it leaves Ansem totally open to attack, it also made it very easy for him to freeze me in place and do a lot of damage. Naturally, he started to use it more often, which only aggravated me, and led to an interesting discovery.  
>He tried to get the Guardian to catch me again, but this time instead of just letting it I slammed the Keyblade into it at the earliest opportunity, actually sending it tumbling to the ground until it vanished. It didn't reappear at all for a long period, much to Ansem's dismay and my gain. I took out a lot of the irritation that had built up on him at that point, passing comments that were strangely uncensored at Destiny Islands. I don't think I'll repeat the sort of things I said here, I'm not entirely proud of some of the things I called him.<br>Finally I delivered the last blow to him, causing him to split the Destiny Islands and create the crater in the middle where I'd have to face him alone, completely forgetting the Darkside that would appear first.  
>Donald and Goofy were barred from entry, calling to me in chagrin when they saw I was going to have to do this entirely by myself. I ignored this, waiting for the Darkside to show up.<br>It didn't show up. At least, not as I expected it to. Several times, Roxas encounters Heartless that look almost like Darksides, but are just a bit more powerful – the Dark Followers.  
>To further stack things up against me, the Follower was considerably quicker and more powerful than I remember either Darksides or Followers being, giving me at least a fair challenge to defeat the ugly thing. In the end, I used the same trick I'd used on the original Destiny Islands Darkside, shooting light at it.<br>When I finished it off, it had been with an actual strike to one leg rather than a beam of light, and so it started to collapse down, nearly onto me. I ran to get clear, though I never made it far enough to be fully clear because I tripped on a bit of ground that I'm sure Ansem raised just to catch me out.  
>By sheer luck probably, I ended up safe only because the heart shaped hole fell around me, keeping me safe from the last of the darkness.<br>With the Dark Follower down, I mopped up the last of the Shadows it had created, healed myself, then waited for Ansem to appear for round two.


	22. An End to Chaos, and the Next Adventure

I have no idea how long I waited in that crater, keeping a wary eye all around so Ansem couldn't sneak up on me, but it can't have been as long as it felt like.  
>First he tried to distract me, with various shadows starting to appear over the ground. I paid them little attention, they weren't him, and attacking them wasn't going to do any good. They weren't Shadow Heartless, just shadows.<br>Then he attacked from behind, or tried to, with the blue energy disks again. A quickly cast Stop allowed me to get clear from the barrage before they hit me. When they started moving again they followed the route I'd taken to get clear, but broke off before reaching me. Once cleared, I saw Ansem had appeared behind them, the Guardian back in its accustomed place.  
>The Guardian was sent after me again, and I dealt with it the same way as before, Allowing me to land the first blow of this round. Ansem was ready for me this time though, and after only a few strikes he surrounded himself with a blazing blue barrier and charged me. I only just managed to get clear in time, waiting until the barrier faded to hit him with Strike Raid. I didn't get to the Judgement part of it because the Guardian returned to him by then, and he managed to call it in front of him to block the last blow.<br>This repeated several times until I mistimed my swing for the Guardian and it caught me. I managed to avoid getting caught by Ansem's attacks by keeping as far away from him as possible. He followed this up with an attack much like Dark Aura, rapidly flying around at me with a shield only in front of him.  
>I managed to get underneath the first pass he made for me, catching his feet as he passed over me, dragging me painfully across the ground and forcing me to drop the Keyblade so I could pull myself up. Once I had a grip on the collar of that coat he wears, I let go with the other hand and drove the Keyblade into his back.<br>He didn't like that.  
>I was thrown off, and had to summon it back to me because it was still stuck in him, not least because he did something I'm sure he never does otherwise, which is to call on a small bunch of Heartless. Darkballs, specifically. They made it very difficult to concentrate on him, and left me no choice but to eliminate them while trying to minimize the amount of damage Ansem got through to me.<br>Just as I cleared the last of them, I turned back to see him charging at me again with that blue barrier up. This time I struck the barrier hard, sending it flying and him with it. Had we not been near one of the walls of that crater it would have been less effective, but as it was he was temporarily stunned up against one wall. The Guardian had vanished when he hit it, not reappearing nearby or even in front, so I had an unparalleled chance to attack without hindrance.  
>This was enough to finish him, sending the Destiny Islands, him, me and the others all plunging downwards into the darkness, with a white door in the distance.<br>"Behold the endless abyss!" Ansem's voice boomed. "Within lies the heart of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts!"  
>"Too bad for you this is the end," I replied, not bothering to wait before going after him.<br>"The end for you," he retorted. "The darkness conquers all worlds and all hearts!"  
>Twin portals swallowed Donald and Goofy, but I was ready for this myself, ready to glide instead of fall. Ansem had disappeared during the short drop I took before Glide caught, and the World of Chaos started to rise with Ansem fused to it, surrounded by a flock of Bit Sniper Heartless.<br>I ignored these Heartless unless they got too close to me, concentrating on weaving through the barrage of laser attacks the World of Chaos fired at me. Some caught me, some didn't, but I kept on going because as I've often found before, they all tend to ignore you when you get right up close with his royal pain in the backside, Ansem.  
>Ansem wields Soul Eater here, though it looks more like two Soul Eaters on a pole. Combined with his larger size here, it looks more formidable than it really is. After noticing the Bit Snipers had followed me, I started making wide swings that caught anything too close to me on either side, occasionally kicking at Ansem to push myself away so I could get some more of the Bit Snipers. I wasn't going to let them build up.<br>He didn't swing his weapon too often, but when he did I either got clear quickly or blocked it and braced myself for the power behind it. I nearly always ended up pushed far enough away that I had to start worrying about the artillery of lasers once more, but I continued to attack until he leaned back and seemed to become even more a part of the World of Chaos and the Guardian behind him than before.  
>This dropped me into a totally black room, which after only a few moments proved itself not to be completely so as a great many yellow eyes began to appear. Gravity dealt with those close to me, by which time my eyes had started to adjust to the lack of light and I started to make out the shape of Shadow Heartless. I saved my magic after that, since a wide swing from Ultima Weapon was fully capable of destroying every last Shadow it touched, only touching each one once.<br>With the Shadows out the way, the room's core appeared as some kind of stringy thing that seemed almost like a tentacle. A few well placed blows destroyed it, ejecting me back out into the darkness, fairly distant from the World of Chaos this time. The Bit Snipers flocked to me again as I approached, once more avoiding the fire from the organic artillery cannons on the World of Chaos. As I had a longer distance to travel before I reached it, I continued to destroy the Bit Snipers while trying not to get shot. This wasn't easy, as I'd ignored the artillery entirely just before.  
>Once I got close enough to strike at the artillery it became my main focus, taking out the larger and more damaging ones first before moving onto the smaller ones, but never staying in one place for long. The artillery on the other side of the World of Chaos continued its barrage with lasers that were slower to fire, but homed in on where I was when they fired.<br>After I'd destroyed most of the artillery on one side, I heard the sound of a portal opening further up and abandoned my efforts to dive straight into it and the next black room.  
>Goofy was in here, having trouble holding off yet more Darkball Heartless. I quickly healed him as soon as I entered, though with the massive amounts of health he always seems to amass I doubt he needed it, then between the two of us we worked together to destroy this swarm of Heartless. Once the core of this room had also been destroyed, we were both flung back out, this time with the World of Chaos right in front of us. As we drew close the face launched several lightning attacks at me, quickly blocked by Goofy to keep them from having any effect, though as we got closer we both had to turn to evasion tactics to avoid it. While getting up-close and personal with the face is pretty much the only way to fight it, the constant snapping and biting at me it kept on doing made it hard to get too many blows in before I had to move, and the artillery on the other side of the ship were still intact and firing on both of us now, adding another level of complication to the battle.<br>The face eventually gave up and opened the third portal, where we found Donald trying to hold off a bunch of Invisible Heartless with the staff, as magic doesn't have enough of an effect on them. As Glide didn't work in here, it was difficult to attack the airborne Heartless until Donald started using Gravity to pull them down to my level, where I battered away at them until they too were destroyed.  
>The final room core fell just moments later, sending us clear yet again but at least kept together. There were no Bit Snipers left to attack us this time, and at first there appeared to be no clear sign of what to attack next. The core of the World of Chaos was still barred off by the barrier, so I led the way down to the artillery I'd left behind before. With the three of us working together, we swiftly took out the last of them, and that opened the way to the core.<br>There were a few more artillery here that were easily defeated, leaving only the mass in the center that was strangely organic seeming. Organic or not, it fell to us quickly, forcing Ansem to release himself from the fusion he'd locked himself into.  
>Ansem added a few new tricks to his arsenal, pulling us toward him with darkness that he detonated once we were close enough. That one hurts, but both Donald and I had magic to spare by this point, allowing us to recover from it in no time and return to the battle.<br>The Guardian too was more active this time, using the wings it had gained to send us flying away from them both, or attacking with glowing fists that seemed to drain the magic from each of us as they hit.  
>This time it took much longer before Ansem finally succumbed to the massive damage we had wrought over him, the Guardian and the immense World of Chaos, with the latter seeming to tear itself apart in a series of explosions. We prudently moved clear of them before they reached us.<br>When we looked back, Ansem was separate again, still alive but definitely not in best condition.  
>Breathing hard, he reached out toward the Door to Darkness, calling for it to fill him with darkness.<br>"End of the line, Ansem," I told him. "Kingdom Hearts is a force of light, and it's about to obliterate you."  
>"You're wrong," he began, but then the doors began to open with a line of light illuminating him.<br>"You're finished," I told him as the light enveloped him. When it faded, he was no more – except the part of him residing within Riku, but Riku would handle that himself. The doors that had been slowly grinding open now hung motionless.  
>"Come on," I told the others. "We've got to close that door. Don't worry about the Heartless" I added as we headed for it. "Just keep on pushing. Jiminy, is that copy of the Journal up to date?"<br>"Sure is, Sora," he replied, holding onto the hood of the jacket with it in his free hand.  
>"Thanks," I said, taking it from him. "This is where we keep it safe."<br>The doors easily dwarfed us all many times over, and I shudder to think at how much they must have weighed.  
>"It's hopeless," Donald sighed.<br>"Don't give up!" It was Riku, trapped on the other side because of the darkness still within him. "Come on, Sora. We can do it together."  
>"Right! Hear that you guys? Keep it up!"<br>We pushed with renewed effort, aided by Riku pulling from the other side and ignoring the approaching Heartless. With a bright flash that caught the attention of all of us, the silhouette of Mickey holding the opposite of my own Keyblade appeared.  
>"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed, seeing him. You know the rest.<br>There was one difference though.  
>"Sora!" Riku caught my attention while there was still a gap. "Take care of her."<br>I nodded, then said, "Here. Keep this safe for me." He took the copy of the journal. "When I wake up, make sure it gets to me – you'll understand what that means soon enough. Until then, you keep it safe."  
>Now it was his turn to nod, just in time for the doors to close.<br>The Door to Darkness was locked between Mickey and me, then I spotted Kairi standing on a sandy rock that belonged, of course, to Destiny Islands.  
>"Don't forget me," I told her. "I might not be Sora, but that doesn't mean I can't do my best to keep you safe too."<br>"I'm always with you," she answered. "You kept my Heart safe for all that time, I'll always be there. Sora too. We're all connected."  
>"See you soon, Kairi. Tell my boyfriend not to worry too much about me, won't you?"<br>She gave me a wink as the rocks started to break up.  
>"Take care of yourself, Liam," she told me, as the rocks began to disappear, returning to and restoring their respective worlds.<br>I rejoined Donald and Goofy, who looked to me curiously.  
>"None of your business," I told them.<br>"What now?" they both asked together.  
>"Just wait," I answered. "Any moment..." I paused, waiting, then our view changed. Grassy hills were around us now, along with a dirt path stretching into the distance. "Now," I finished.<br>"Well now what?" Donald asked again.  
>"We look for Riku and King Mickey."<br>"But where do we look for that door to the light?" Goofy wondered.  
>"We don't. Who knows were the Gummi Ship ended up, and anyway the worlds are separate now. We can't travel between them. Anyway, Pluto's going to show up in a moment, and if we follow him we'll find-" I broke off. The second least favourite world in my books. The prospect of losing my memories was not appealing.<br>"Find what?"  
>"The next adventure," I answered. "Come on. For now, we follow the path."<br>The path that lead through what was once the Land of Departure, and would lead in turn to Castle Oblivion, the first real meeting with Organization Thirteen, Naminé... and the sleep that would be broken only be Roxas completing me in just under a years time.

Don't think this story is over with yet. After all, we haven't gotten to the point where Sora and I undid those first words I wrote in the book.


	23. Castle Oblivion

I don't remember Castle Oblivion. At least, not from the moment I walked through the doors. I remember the long walk through the fields that were all that was left by Aqua's changing the Land of Departure into Castle Oblivion, and I remember being woken in the night to hear from a hooded Marluxia. He didn't need to try and lure me to the Castle, I was going to go there anyway.  
>But inside the Castle walls? I have no memory in the slightest.<br>Anticipating this, Sora used the book to make sure what I did there was documented from my point of view in a separate book – much like I've been writing this, but neither he or I had to lift a finger to write it. I've since read that book, and having read it I can see it's probably just as well that I don't remember. I'm not saying I doubt what I did at all, but some of it tests my belief in myself. I used my knowledge so much that combined with what can only be called my complete and utter abuse of Castle Oblivion's memory and thought based White Rooms, I'm amazed the plot there is still recognisable by the time I reached Marluxia.  
>The main reason I've always disliked the place is because of the card system in place. Maybe for the purposes of the plot it's useful, but otherwise it's just plain annoying. I have to admit, my solution to that little annoyance made whole worlds of difference.<br>But whether I like what I did or not, it did happen and I'm not going to skip over it just because I have no first-hand memory of it. The book that tells that story is written as though I did, essentially leaving it written for me, and so we can press on with the tale.

As we started into the first of the white rooms of Castle Oblivion, it was clear Goofy held some misgivings about going in uninvited.  
>"We gotta do it if we're gonna find the king," Donald told him.<br>"The King? Here?"  
>"Something just told me he'd be here."<br>Goofy tapped that little helmet of his. "Really? Now that ya mention it... I was kinda thinking the same..."  
>"It's not a coincidence," I told them. Jiminy got it too. Didn't you?"<br>"You saw it coming again, didn't you Sora?" Jiminy asked me, hopping up onto my shoulder.  
>"That's not all I saw. This is why I had you keep a copy of the journal – going through here is what will erase it."<br>"But how?"  
>"I don't know. Don't get alarmed, by the way."<br>"What by?"  
>The door slammed behind us.<br>"That," I answered. "Come on out," I called. "I know you're there, and I'm not afraid of you."  
>With a sound like rushing wind, a dark corridor deposited Marluxia, though with the hood of the coat raised there was nothing actually confirming this.<br>Donald rushed forward to attack, but I held him back lightly.  
>"Sora-" he started.<br>"No. It won't work anyway. Something they've done has changed the rules here." Then to Marluxia, "Why don't you lower the hood? I already know who you are – all thirteen of you. Even though I won't meet most of them... yet."  
>"So you really do see the future," Marluxia remarked, revealing himself. "How interesting. What do you see in mine?"<br>"You getting destroyed by my hand on the thirteenth floor of the castle," I answered with a shrug. "After losing Larxene because she tries to kill me and fails, and Axel fools you into trusting him by destroying Vexen for you. I'd mention Lexaeus and Zexion, except they're going to be more interested in someone else who'll turn up in the basement."  
>"And just how accurate are your... predictions?"<br>"One-hundred percent," I replied with a smirk.  
>"Indeed? Then I believe we'll put that to the test."<br>At that point he floated up and then through me. I let him – he could look through my memories all he wanted. Maybe he'd even find out why I knew what was going to happen. It didn't matter to me.  
>Apparently he didn't find that though, or if he did he kept it to himself.<br>"Go ahead. Give me the card. I'm sure you're only too eager to see if the cards work the way you think they do."  
>Marluxia handed it over, disappearing back into a new corridor without another word.<br>"You took some awful risks there, Sora," Jiminy told me disapprovingly.  
>"Not really. I know how this place works, and how to manipulate that to our advantage. They made these cards to try to influence it, but the truth is they're completely unnecessary. They're in for a shock, let me tell you," I laughed. "I think I'm going to play along – at least a little. Anyone care to join me?"<br>"Join you where?"  
>"Traverse Town, first."<br>"But you said the worlds-"  
>"Not the real Traverse Town. Watch."<br>I flicked the blue world card at the door, then experimenting a little with Castle Oblivion, I thought for a moment about the doors opening. They did so in response to that though. Traverse Town lay on the other side of the door.  
>I'd made two changes to Traverse Town when I opened the door – there would be no Heartless, and no residents. I made it purely a memory of the town, no more. Which is exactly what the card was meant to be – Traverse Town.<br>There was a brief flash of light as we crossed the threshold into the memory of Traverse Town where my will clashed with that of another, probably Vexen is my guess, trying to force Donald and Goofy into card-form. Mine overpowered the other will though, and they remained with me.  
>"This is creepy," Donald remarked as we walked through the deserted town. I was in no hurry at all. Let the Organization try to find a way around me. As Nobodies I doubted their creativity was anywhere near as good as mine. I could come up with trick after trick, and they'd have to approach each new one freshly.<br>"It's just a memory," I told him."That's how it works here. Your memories can't hurt you, even if this place gives them form."  
>"I still don't like it," he said stubbornly.<br>"Suit yourself. But at least you know if you stick with me, everything is going to go just fine."  
>"How can ya be so sure?" Goofy asked me.<br>"Because what I see are memories too, they just haven't happened yet. And that means I can act on them. In a place like this that changes with memories, that means I hold the strongest power – Castle Oblivion itself."  
>"Just be careful, Sora," Jiminy warned me. "Power does strange things to people."<br>"Only if they let it rule them," I pointed out, pushing open the door to the Third District.  
>"I remember here," Goofy said. "This is where we first met you."<br>"I know. I tried to move so you two wouldn't land on me. You still got me though."  
>The door from the Third District back to the First in fact was the exit to white room that marked the end of this floor.<br>"Surprisingly quick," Marluxia noted, already stood waiting for me.  
>"A memory of a town doesn't have much to slow me down. Really, is that the best you can come up with?"<br>Marluxia started to reply, but was cut off by Axel appearing.  
>"What do you want?" he asked Axel in a hostile tone.<br>"To test me," I answered for him. "That's right, isn't it Axel? How's Roxas?"  
>Apparently Marluxia had not seen fit to take Axel into confidence about my earlier predictions, though since I'd told him about the false trust Axel would display I was hardly surprised. But displaying knowledge that as far as he knew I shouldn't have spooked him enough that he did something he probably shouldn't have.<br>"Roxas is... less of a zombie," he answered, taken off guard. He rallied quickly, following up with, "But how do you know him, huh?"  
>"He's my Nobody," I answered. "Why shouldn't I know him? Take care of him, will you? I'd hate to see anything happen to him."<br>"What's it matter to you?"  
>"Full of questions, aren't you Axel? Didn't you want to test me?"<br>Marluxia handed him several blue world cards, then disappeared again. Axel just pocketed the card, his chakrams appearing in either hand.  
>"Don't you go off and die on me now!" he told me.<br>"No chance of that."  
>"Sora, your Keyblade!" Donald insisted, but I just smirked and folded my arms. Axel made to swipe the chakrams at me, but impacted instead on a silver barrier that appeared only between his weapon and where it would harm me, preventing him from touching me.<br>Clearly bothered by this, he turned on Donald and Goofy in turn, only to be blocked by the same barrier.  
>"What is going on here?" he breathed, stepping back.<br>"Would you care to try that again, Axel?" I asked smugly. After he made no reaction, I continued, "No? Then let me."  
>Something unseen slammed him up against one wall hard, the breath whooshing out of him. He struggled to move, but couldn't. I picked the cards out of the pocket he'd stowed them in.<br>"Hey! You can't-"  
>"Take them? Isn't that a shame? I just did. Come on guys. We've got more worlds to visit."<br>"Sora, shouldn't you do something about him?" Goofy said, pointing to Axel still struggling.  
>"Oh, alright then. I suppose so."<br>He dropped to the floor, stared at me, then shook his head and vanished.  
>Once into the entrance hall of the second floor, Donald asked me, "Just how did you do that, Sora?"<br>"I told you – Castle Oblivion. All it takes are a few well crafted thoughts or memories."  
>"Sora, what's a Nobody?" Jiminy asked me.<br>"Someone who doesn't have a Heart. Like the Heartless, but they're more dangerous because they keep their minds too."  
>"And this Roxas is yours?"<br>"Created when I stabbed myself with Riku's Keyblade."  
>"I remember that," Goofy said then. "That was back at the other castle, with all those contraptions."<br>"When was that?" Donald asked him.  
>"That was when we were at, uh... Holla... Holly..."<br>"Hollow Bastion," I supplied. Naminé had already begun her work, obviously. But why could I still remember clearly? Was it because I wasn't Sora?  
>Since I altered all of the worlds I went to so they were empty shells of the real things, I won't go into much detail on each of them, instead sticking to the meetings between floors.<br>The only real difference that happened along the way was Hundred Acre Woods – as I hadn't visited it, I got given a world card for Deep Jungle instead, making it the only world that appeared at a time it wasn't meant to. It was still empty like all the rest though.


	24. Through Memory's Oblivion

I chose to go through the worlds in order, as close to the order I had gone through their real counterparts as possible, which meant Wonderland came next. Of course, like Traverse Town it was empty, though we did reminisce a little. Unfortunately, this accidentally called a memory of the Trickmaster on us, but it didn't really last all that long.  
>In the white room between the second and third floors, Goofy stopped, thinking again.<br>"What's bothering you?" I asked him.  
>"It's that castle I was talking about earlier. I know you named it, but now I can't remember it again."<br>I thought back too this time. The name evaded me as well this time, as did the entire conversation.  
>"Are you sure you're not imagining things?"<br>"I know I didn't imagine it. That was the place where ya had to use the Keyblade to free Kairi's Heart. You just disappeared, and we were all worried."  
>"I remember that. I turned into a Heartless... but I don't remember where that happened."<br>"You forgot that?" Donald chuckled. "I remember it perfectly."  
>"Then what was the place called?"<br>Donald frowned, drawing a blank. "Help me out here, Jiminy, is your Journal-"  
>"Blank!" Jiminy interrupted, jumping out onto my shoulder again. "Just like Sora said."<br>"So... it's started," I said. "The Journal would solve this, but without it we're just going to keep on forgetting things."  
>"Something's screwy here," Donald muttered as we started to move on. I absently opened the door to Olympus Coliseum ahead. "Journal pages and memories... they don't just vanish like this!"<br>"If we keep going, are we just going to keep forgetting?" Goofy wondered.  
>"And will we forget everybody?" Donald added.<br>"We can't forget each other. We're friends, and ya can't forget your friends, right?"  
>"I don't know..."<br>"He's right," I said. "I didn't forget about you while I was a Heartless. Wish I could say the same of you, Donald."  
>"What? What's that supposed to mean?"<br>"Who was it who didn't notice it was me and tried to hit me with the staff?" I asked slyly.  
>"Hey! How come you didn't forget that!"<p>

As I didn't have the world card for Deep Jungle yet, the next world I opened was Agrabah. Thankfully the memory of it did not share the heat of the real counterpart. The entrance of the world turned out to be the palace gates, and the exit, interestingly, was a door in the same place as the Keyhole.  
>At the entrance to the Cave of Wonders, I had the feeling someone was watching me, looking around. It turned out to be a memory of Roxas on top of the Guardian's head. I knew it was a memory because Roxas couldn't come here, not without passing out.<br>We had a brief discussion about the King before pushing onwards again, into Monstro, which was just as easy to get lost in as it was before until I cheated and forced signs to appear that showed the way out.  
>"If only you'd been able to do that when we really went through Monstro," Jiminy had remarked.<br>I could tell as we passed through that Naminé was finally working through my memories. It didn't matter whether they were from before I'd encountered the book, or after I'd ended up in Sora's life, I was forgetting all the same. It was actually rather scary, knowing that I was forgetting so much, and that others were forgetting me at the same time. Knowing it'd be undone later on didn't help much.  
>After Monstro, the effects of her work became all too clear. Any memory I had of Kairi was now of her instead, even Kairi's charm, the keychain for Oathkeeper, now resembled the yellow star that I thought she had given me. I knew it wasn't real, I still held on to the memory that it wasn't real, but the memories were so clear...<br>Going through Halloween Town only made things worse. By the time I left that floor, I had completely forgotten any time I hadn't been Sora, the book, and even the short time when Sora had turned up with my boyfriend. As far as I knew by that point, I was Sora, and I really had seen what would happen. At least Naminé had yet to touch those memories.  
>Larxene met us as we left this floor. Both Donald and Goofy looked to me, then noticing that I hadn't drawn a weapon this time either they put their weapons away again.<br>"So you're Larxene," I said. "You're shorter than I pictured you. How's Naminé?"  
>Like Axel, this put her off guard. Unlike Axel, she handled it much better, giving a nasty smile.<br>"Oh, she's quite safe. Held captive somewhere upstairs by the bad guys. And since you're the hero-"  
>"I have to go save her. Except-" I stopped, ducked under the punch she threw, then caught the kick and sent her to the floor. "You're one of the bad guys. Nice try."<br>She scrambled to her feet, summoning the knives to her hands. The sparked against the same silver barrier I'd thought up to protect me from Axel until she finally got the idea and gave up.  
>"Hmph. You're not as bad as I thought."<br>"Sure. Admit it – you don't have any idea how I'm doing this, none of you do."  
>"So what! It doesn't matter." She tossed four more world cards to the ground. "Be a good boy and thank me now, won't you?"<br>"Don't forget to tell Vexen his replica is just a toy," I told her as she disappeared. Once she'd gone, I scooped up the cards. "Neverland, Atlantica, Deep Jungle and Hollow Bastion. I don't remember any of these places. How about you guys?"  
>"Uh..." Donald wondered.<br>"Nope," Goofy said. "I got nothing."

Deep Jungle, there in place of Hundred Acre Woods, would have tested me far more than the original had I kept my caution over jumps and swings. As it was, this too had been forgotten. Castle Oblivion made the journey through the vine swings considerably more risky, or at least appeared to – the trees just kept on going downwards until they all blurred together. As far as I could tell, if I made one wrong move I'd just keep falling.  
>We made it safely through and down to the site of the Keyhole, which like Agrabah was instead the door to the next White Room.<br>"You are not Riku," I said, seeing the Riku Replica waiting for me.  
>"Oh, really? Is that how you feel about me now, huh? Not even real?"<br>"Save it. You're a replica. A copy. The real Riku is in the basement of the Castle by now."  
>"And you're here, reaching toward Naminé. I won't let you hurt her again," he snapped, Soul Eater appearing in his hand as he shifted to Riku's dark mode.<br>"Your memories aren't real, Riku. Go see the real Riku – he'll confirm it."  
>The replica disappeared the same way the Organization members did.<br>"Are you sure that wasn't Riku?" Jiminy asked me.  
>"Absolutely."<br>"How about the real Riku?"  
>"I wasn't lying – if I'm right, he's in the basement, reaching up toward the ground floor and trying to combat Ansem."<br>"Ansem?" Goofy asked. "But we defeated him, right?"  
>"There's a bit of him left in Riku where he used him. He has to square with that."<br>Jiminy hopped down from my shoulder as I moved to open the door.  
>"Sora, wait a moment! You gave Riku the other Journal, didn't you?"<br>"Yeah, why?"  
>"If he's here, it'll get erased too!"<br>I concentrated, trying to think through what memories I had left. Much of the original memories were fragments now.  
>"I think it's safe," I said at last. "I can't be sure. It's getting hard to tell."<br>"The Castle?"  
>"I don't know. The only way to be sure is to keep going. This Atlantica place next." As I said it, I recalled a few faint memories, and when we entered Atlantica we returned to the forms we had taken in the real Atlantica because of it.<br>I still retained enough memories to keep it safe though, like all other worlds here. Swimming through allowed us to make much quicker progress, especially since the route we followed through was the one that lead to Triton's Palace.  
>The Riku Replica showed up again when we exited.<br>"I took your advice, Sora," he told me. "Guess what? You were right about one thing."  
>"Which one?"<br>"About there being another Riku. _He's_ the fake though. Not me."  
>"Riku-"<br>"You lied, Sora. And now you're still here trying to reach Naminé. Give up and go home already."  
>"Or what? You'll attack me?"<br>"If that's what it takes."  
>After a few abortive attacks, like Larxene he gave up.<br>"Give it up, Riku. You can't stop me. The real Riku might – but not you."  
>The Replica gave me a harsh look, then disappeared yet again.<p>

The next world we entered was Neverland, through which we were able to fly. Like Atlantica, this sped things up a great deal, and we left the ninth floor in short order.  
>Nine floors. We'd come so far so quickly, and the memories I had told me it was because I'd been keeping the floors clear we'd been able to. But even those memories were getting vague now. Naminé had been working on them as quickly as we'd been going up.<br>This left only Hollow Bastion to go to. We all remembered that this was where I'd become a Heartless as soon as we saw it, but we remembered nothing of what had happened here. Only the memories inside the Castle were left now – that and the few of what were left to happen.  
>Interestingly, when we left, Vexen had his hood up – the only time I've ever known him to. This was an unexpected change.<br>"Who're you meant to be?" Donald asked him, waving Jafar's staff threateningly.  
>"Vexen," I said. "The Chilly Academic who thinks I owe him something."<br>"At least we can dispense with the pleasantries," Vexen said, lowering the hood. "And you're right. Now it's time to collect."  
>"Forget it. I know it was a Replica already. I also know you battled Riku in the basement of the Castle to get the data for it." I frowned, not quite recalling everything, then continued. "If only I could remember why."<br>"Why would you want to remember that? I could tell you... but why trouble you in your final hour?"  
>Vexen tried to solidify the air into his frozen shield. I made the air in that area too hot to freeze.<br>"Something wrong?" I asked him as he looked to the steaming air in chagrin.  
>"This is impossible!"<br>"No, Vexen. I just know how to exploit the Castle better than you do."  
>His eyes narrowed, and there was a flash of light, just like when I'd overruled the effect trying to turn Donald and Goofy into cards. This time I lost, and he nulled my heat effect. It would be Vexen that would understand how to deal with me and give me a challenge at last.<br>He tried ice magic on me, which I blocked with the usual shield. Then he nullified that too, and for the first time I summoned my Keyblade inside the castle.  
>It wasn't the real thing though – once inside the castle, it wouldn't respond to me. I also knew that rather irritatingly, I'd also lost all the various chains for it I'd gathered.<br>But what did appear looked like a Keyblade, and worked like a Keyblade. Oblivion, specifically. Did I mention I like its look best of all?  
>Then for the first time in the Castle, I actually properly fought someone. Vexen proved to be a tough opponent now he was armed with the same capabilities I was, but I'd had more experience with it, and I had more creativity than the Nobody. He was still limited, believing that he still had to form each use of Castle Oblivion into a card to get it to work, something easily beaten by adding value to all of mine – a value that acted in the same way as a 0 card would when played last, but would not be broken by any value card – even another 0.<br>Without the ability to counter any of my attacks, Vexen had a hard time actually achieving anything. If the satisfying grunts he gave every time I hit him with my Oblivion were any indication, he'd be left hurting in more ways than one from this.  
>Finally he appeared to give up, quickly getting clear of one last swing from Oblivion, giving that stupid creepy grin of his.<br>"As I expected, not one to die very easily."  
>"You're hardly much of a challenge, Nobody," I accused, putting contempt into 'Nobody'.<br>"Don't be so sure. Did you even notice? I was going deep into your memory while we fought-"  
>"Oh, spare me. I know you have a world card for Twilight Town, and you got the data from Roxas, not me. Or didn't they bother to tell you I already know about my own Nobody?"<br>"Hmph. Of course I knew. Roxas is the other side of you, and this was crafted from the other side of you. If you'd bothered to let me finish..." he trailed off, then flicked the card to me, vanishing.  
>"Self-centred moron," I muttered as he left. Twilight Town beckoned from the door.<br>"Have we ever been here?" Goofy asked me as we entered.  
>"No. But Roxas has. Weren't you listening just now?"<br>"Now, Sora, there's no need to be like that," Jiminy chided me.  
>"Sorry. Vexen just annoyed me a little. And we've lost so many memories too..." I shook my head. "But I won't give up now. We have to keep going on."<br>"But why?" Donald asked, sounding hopeless.  
>"I don't remember. But I do know there's something important that has to happen here, and we have to keep going to reach it. I'm certain."<br>The exit room to Twilight Town is, of course, the gates of the Old Mansion. Something I frequently mistake as Ansem's Mansion because he's the only known owner of it.  
>"What would Roxas want in a place like this?" Goofy wondered.<br>"You could ask him," Vexen replied, having appeared behind us when we approached the gates. "But I'm afraid you won't be meeting him any time soon. You've become too troublesome, Sora, and now I will eliminate you."  
>We fought again, and I quickly learned he'd discovered the cards were no longer a necessity. Now I let my creativity have free reign, coming up with any workable idea that could be used. Some I saved for later on for later battles that were still to come, but others were perfect.<br>I set Oblivion ablaze with a fire that burned white hot but only to Vexen, the rest of us saw only blue fire so as not to blind us. It blinded him though, and he _really_ didn't like the fire. This was extinguished by a torrential downpour of rain that crashed open the gates of the mansion and washed us inside.  
>The water was an obstacle, but more importantly it was a weapon Vexen could freeze and use against me – I had to deal with it. I quickly guided the others behind me, then sent a mighty roar echoing outward, shaking the mansion to the foundations, the resulting shockwave combined with my will stopping the water in its tracks and back out of the mansion, in the process pinning Vexen up against one of the walls of the mansion with the force of the blast, eyes glazed over from the stunning impact.<br>The noise had been dreadful, but it wasn't without its bad points – the roof of the mansion began to cave in, forcing me to temporarily abandon Vexen to save us. Thankfully with Vexen not yet recovered, there was nothing to stop me from simply creating a fresh barrier to deflect the debris around us.  
>It built a fair wall around us, barring Vexen from our view. Unknown to us, he'd also protected himself, and now with his limited creativity had caused another downpour, this time localised on the crater we were now in. The water that came in froze on contact, and it did the same on the ring of rocks that formed the crater, forming an icy barrier to hold us in place.<br>I used just enough fire to keep it melting around us, though this of course started to flood the inside. There was no other option at this point though. Eventually Vexen showed up inside the still-rising walls of ice, the water he stepped on freezing under his feet, ignoring the heat I was putting out. This was what I'd been waiting for.  
>Now I let the water freeze around us, willing some of the water to surround and encase Vexen as it froze. With both him and us locked and frozen in place, I then enveloped the three of us in fire, which to Vexen must have looked like we simply became fiery outlines. The sudden change of temperature from cold to heat evaporated the ice in moments, sending clouds of steam hissing upwards as Vexen's thin barrier of ice began to break up and collapse in, only to be evaporated in turn. Once Vexen was brought down to my level, I gave him a solid blow to the jaw, sending him flying back outside the mansion again.<br>I went after him, ready to continue my attack, but Vexen dropped his shield, and I paused.  
>"Such strength," he murmured with laboured breath. "Even at the mercy of memory..."<br>"You're just not enough of a challenge," I told him. "You're just a Nobody."  
>"Turn aside from your course, Sora," Vexen said then. "If you continue to seek Naminé, you will only end up being a pawn of Marluxia!"<br>"He'll have his own reckoning with me before that happens, and he won't be coming out of it any better than you are."  
>"Pay attention, boy!" he snapped. "If you-" he stopped, not because of anything he or I had done, but because one of Axel's chakrams hit him solidly in the chest.<br>"Sora," he nodded to me in passing. "Catch ya at a bad time, huh?"  
>"Why, Axel?" Vexen demanded.<br>"You talk to much," Axel replied. "So I'm here to stop you."  
>"No! Please, don't-"<br>"Goodbye," Axel interrupted, snapping his fingers. Vexen disappeared in flames. He screamed once, and only once before he was reclaimed by the darkness.  
>Axel, meanwhile turned to me.<br>"You're an interesting one, you know that?"  
>"Do me a favour, Axel. Survive the others here, and-"<br>"Take care of Roxas, yeah, I remember kid."  
>"Don't call me kid!"<br>"Take it easy there," he said, backing off slightly. "I didn't mean to offend you. If this is what a Heart does to you, I'm wondering why we're-" he stopped. "Now I'm talking to much. Time to go," he added, then he too disappeared.  
>Only two more floors left to go now, and I'd have to fight to get the world cards for them.<p> 


	25. Oblivion's End

The Riku Replica met us again when we left the floor, in one hand Soul Eater, and in the other, the second of Naminé's lucky charms. The false one. Ever since that first meeting with him, he'd retained Riku's dark mode appearance.  
>"You'll hurt Naminé if you go any further," he told me warningly.<br>"Don't do it, Riku. Your own memories have been tampered with."  
>"So what if they have? I'm protecting Naminé from you. I made a promise to her to keep her safe."<br>"On the night of a meteor shower when you were little, she got scared and asked what if one hit the islands," I continued for him. "So you told her if one came that way, you'd protect her. That memory isn't real, Riku. Naminé planted the same memory in my head too. Your charm's a fake too."  
>"This?" he asked, holding it up. "She gave me this on that storm, Sora."<br>"No. She didn't. Because it's right here." I pulled out my one now.  
>"What? Where did you get that?"<br>"I had it with me when I entered the castle," I answered, oblivious to the fact that at the time it had been Kairi's, made from the Thalassa shells she'd strung together on my second day in Sora's life.  
>There was a bright flash and Riku's eyes glazed momentarily, causing him to reach up to his head in pain.<br>"Good try, Sora," he said once it passed. "That one has to be the fake. This one's always been with me, ever since that night!"  
>"Riku-"<br>But he wasn't listening. He came at me quickly, forcing me to get clear quickly. The Riku Replica had fully embraced the darkness, and that wasn't something I could combat with Castle Oblivion alone. Not directly at least.  
>As a Replica, even one that thought he was the real Riku, he still retained the creativity that Vexen had lacked, and was far from stupid. Even as I brought out my own Oblivion Keyblade to defend myself, he was starting a Dark Aura attack that would take out both Donald and Goofy in short order, and leave me in a bad way.<br>It never connected. Thinking rapidly on me feet, I created a mass of fake Donalds, Goofys and even myself. I kept them constantly moving, weaving through them so Riku would lose track of me. Donald and Goofy followed suit, and we watched as the Dark Aura attack cut through many illusions, but missed all three of us. To make it worse for the Replica, each illusion he hit multiplied into four more identical ones. He was soon swimming in fakes, the only way to tell if they were real being to attack them, and that in turn would only create more.  
>This gave me the distraction I needed. The fakes were not solid, though they appeared to be. I crept through them toward him, trying to keep quiet, but Sora's shoes... they're not the easiest to be quiet in, to say the least. Riku noticed the lack of sound from the fakes, and recognised the tell-tale sound of my footprints, then lashed out with Soul Eater, forcing a brief spar between us that was definitely not going in my favour. I had to quickly duck back into the crowds of illusions and keep low and still to avoid being heard.<br>I had to find a way to get to him without being heard. I needed a way to be stealthy, yet quick. After a few moments, I realized all the traits I needed could be found in the feline family. None of the changes I made would be permanent, only existing within the Castle because of the Castle. My feet and by extension the shoes were replaced with more paw-like feet, the nails on the hands grew into claws, and only because it would complete the effect I added a tail and cat-like ears. All with tiger like fur, naturally.  
>With these alterations in place, I was able to sneak up behind Riku without being noticed and unleash a powerful series of strikes with great precision and speed. I dismissed the fake images as the Riku Replica dropped the fake charm, quickly scooping it up and getting clear of him as I also reluctantly removed the feline changes. They'd only attract questions.<br>He stared at me a moment, then fled. A single glance to his charm forced it to take on its true form, the world card for Destiny Islands.  
>"There's something I don't get," Donald told me when we regrouped by the door. "If you came in with that charm, and Riku said he'd always had that charm..."<br>"It doesn't matter," I told him. "His one was fake."  
>"But both of you had the same memory!"<br>"Planted by Naminé."  
>"Aren't we trying to save her?" I nodded. "So why is she playing with your memories." I drew a blank. I didn't know why any more. I just knew she was.<br>"We should go ask her. She'll be able to clear this up."  
>"But Sora, what if she's working with them bad guys like Larxene was?" Goofy asked. "If she's mucking around with memories, sure sounds like that's what's going on to me."<br>"She isn't, alright?" I snapped. "I know it. I don't know why, I just do. And I'm going to get to her no matter what."  
>"We've come this far so quick, surely we can afford to take it slow and think ahead-"<br>"You can if you really think you have to," I interrupted, opening the way into Destiny Islands. "I'm going on ahead, with or without you."  
>They called after me, but didn't follow, at least not right away. Due to my irritation at them, I'd forgotten to empty the floor of Heartless, but they were more useful as vents to beat up so I could cool off and get hold of myself again.<br>No one else appeared though, and Naminé did not make her appearance when the memory of the Darkside attack happened. Kairi's charm remained in its altered form – for now, at least.  
>She did, however, appear in the hall between the eleventh and twelfth floor.<br>"Naminé," I murmured on seeing her. "It's you, isn't it?"  
>"Yes," she answered simply. "You're Liam."<br>"Huh? No, I'm Sora. Who's Liam?" I of course still believed I was Sora, having no memory of being otherwise.  
>"You are, silly," she actually giggled. "You just don't remember. I'm sorry for what I've done to your memories."<br>"What're you talking about? You're safe now. We can go. Oh yeah." I pulled out the lucky charm and handed it to her. "And I can return this, like I promised."  
>"Don't you see, Liam? I planted the memory of that promise in your head. That never happened."<br>"But then what's this?" I asked, the charm hanging from my fingers.  
>She put her hands around the charm itself, a bright light emanating from them. When it cleared, she removed her hands, and Kairi's charm was back.<br>"This is the real charm, Liam. It doesn't belong to me. It belongs to someone special to Sora."  
>"But I'm Sora!"<br>"You aren't. You were never meant to go through this. You came here by an accident, by taking an action that you had no idea what the consequences would be. Sora had to take over for you while you had to lead his life. You're Liam – you just don't remember it. Please, believe me."  
>"Well then... who does this belong to? I don't remember anyone giving it to me."<br>"That's because I went into your memories-"  
>"Let <em>me<em> explain this." It was the Riku Replica again. "Your memory is a wreck. You're not the one who's meant to protect Naminé. It was supposed to be me, but you and your stupid messed-up memories kept getting in the way!"  
>"Riku-"<br>"Save it. I'm sick of your lies and excuses. Now I'm gonna deal with you."  
>"I won't fight you, Riku. It won't do any good."<br>"Oh no? Looks like I win then."  
>He drew up a hand already forming a purple fire that would become a Dark Firaga, but Naminé placed herself between me and him.<br>"Riku, stop!" she cried.  
>"Out of my way, Naminé!" he snapped.<br>"I said stop!"  
>There was another flash, then Riku collapsed.<br>"What did you do to him?" I asked Naminé quietly from shock. I'd known something was going to happen, but her tampering had made it too vague to know this would be it. "What happened?"  
>"Broke his heart," Larxene's voice told me, with her appearing nearby. "I'd say more like she smashed it, really."<br>"Why?"  
>"I'm guessing she's feeling guilty for what she did to you," Larxene went on in a tragic tone. "So she just <em>had<em> to do the right thing and save you from him. Kind of a shame, since now I'm gonna get rid of you myself!" The knives appeared in hand. "But first... I'm going to deal with you, you adorable little witch," she turned on Naminé. "Because you and Axel are the reason al our plans are ruined!"  
>She made to go for Naminé, who stepped back fearfully, but I stepped in the way.<br>"No. I won't let you."  
>"Why? She's responsible for tearing up your memories you know."<br>"Because you made her. And now you're gonna pay for it."  
>"Don't forget about us!" Donald called from the doorway, Goofy not far behind. "We'll always be with you, no matter what!"<br>"You're idiots, all of you, you know that?" Larxene told us. "Fine. You can all share the same fate!"  
>"I don't think so," I growled, and it really was a growl, brought on by more tinkering thanks to Castle Oblivion. This time it wasn't just a few small changes, I forced the castle to create a wolf in my place. Larxene may have been quick, but she was no match for me like that. Donald and Goofy looked on for a moment, shared a look, then both went to work. Goofy flung his shield at her, and Donald, lacking magic still, swiped at her with the staff.<br>We broke off when small streams of darkness started coming from her. I quickly undid the wolf alterations to see this.  
>"No! I refuse to lose to a bunch of losers!" Larxene insisted.<br>"Too bad," I told her. "That's what you get for messing with a Keyblade Master."  
>Once she'd faded, I glanced to Naminé, who nodded.<br>"Jiminy," I said. "Come on out. You ought to hear her explanation too."  
>I didn't really pay attention to it. I heard and understood what was being said, but my mind was elsewhere. One floor left. Castle Oblivion itself. And Marluxia awaited me at the end.<p>

We said very little as we progressed through the final floor of the castle, having left Naminé with the Riku Replica. Despite my knowing she'd only end up back in Marluxia's hands, she'd insisted on staying.  
>We walked in on the scene between him and Axel taking place, with Marluxia using her as a shield.<br>"Axel says he's willing to harm Naminé to get to me," he told me. "Of course, you won't let that happen, will you?"  
>"No," I answered. "But neither am I going to just stand here and let you do this. Let her go."<br>"Hm? But then I have no defence against Axel, Sora."  
>"If you don't let her go, you'll regret it."<br>"Prove it."  
>And I did. Naminé vanished completely. Marluxia looked to where she had been, passing a hand through the air. Axel looked shrewd for a moment, then laughed and disappeared.<br>"Over here, Marluxia," I said, reaching out a hand ahead. As soon as I felt the invisible Naminé's hand take it, I nulled the effect. "Now if you want her, you'll have to go through me. But I'm coming for you anyway."  
>"Come then, Keyblade Master. Let's see if you can protect Naminé and defeat me at the same time."<br>"Stay with me this time, Naminé," I said when Marluxia had disappeared. "I have a plan. I'm going to need one or two memories back, if you can arrange it. I think you know which ones."  
>She nodded, laid a hand on my forehead and concentrated. I felt the memories I needed come rushing back. I knew exactly what Marluxia would try and do, and exactly how to combat it.<br>We continued through Castle Oblivion, though in truth there was little left to explore. Most of the travelling was taken up by navigating the maze of passages. This was one world that I couldn't just follow a set route through.  
>I still found a way to cheat though. After we'd gone in a circle several times, I forced a door to appear that led us directly to Marluxia.<br>His first form is little more than a copy of him, not the real thing. Simply willing it to be destroyed handled it perfectly, and we were able to prepare to move on. The Riku Replica, by now understanding what it was and what it had to do, showed up a bit late. Like Sora, I got him to protect Naminé for me while I went ahead to deal with Marluxia.  
>The second form is really him, formed from a massive machine. Like his first form, willing the machine to be destroyed worked a charm, and he was forced to fight us by himself, without any mechanical aid. He attempted to summon the third form, but this time I was ready for him. I focused all my willpower, all my thoughts on denying him the ability to exploit Castle Oblivion like I had, denying him the ability to call on his last form. Our wills clashed in that moment, and neither of us could have expected the outcome.<br>His giant scythe-wielding angel machine formed, complete with the stage and all, but it was not him commanding it. It was me. I quickly replaced the scythe with a giant copy of Oblivion, then directed it toward Marluxia.  
>The fight was short and ugly after that. There was barely enough left of the self-styled Lord of the Castle to fade away.<br>The rest followed almost identically to Sora's own actions there, with one exception. Just before I went into the pod so she could begin her work, there was one last thing I had to do.  
>"Naminé, you've seen my memories. You know what's going to happen, don't you?"<br>"Yes."  
>"Will it affect her?" There was no need to mention the name.<br>"Unless Sora intervenes... yes. She will take on your own appearance instead of the one you borrow from Sora now, and perhaps more. I won't know for sure until it happens."  
>"What about Roxas?"<br>"Only time will tell that, Liam."  
>"Do what you can for him, please. I'd hate to think I'll never wake up from this."<br>"I promise. But I know a way I can do more." She reached into one of my pockets and pulled out the book. It had lain completely forgotten since I'd entered Castle Oblivion, and I still didn't remember it.  
>"I had that on me all this time?" I asked, mostly to myself.<br>"Sora created it after you ended up here so he could keep in touch with you. Let me borrow it, Liam. Between him and me, we'll ensure you wake up safely."  
>"Naminé... thank you. And hey... don't forget. I forgive you."<br>She nodded, then I went into the pod for the longest nap of my life. I'd never remember what happened here afterwards, but it was finally over with. The last sight I had was of the flower like pod reaching up to enclose me, then sleep claimed me.


	26. The Third Adventure Begins

With only a short time between creating Roxas and Naminé starting the painstaking work of setting my memories straight, I spent the better part of an entire year sleeping. In that time I can only assume Roxas's life went on as expected. I had some idea even before Castle Oblivion that Xion would be radically altered, taking my appearance instead of the one she normally has that resembles Kairi. Naminé had confirmed that this would affect her, and that even she had no way of telling what would happen between her and Roxas – or indeed, _him_ and Roxas, as Xion would appear to be me instead. After all, Kairi is special to Sora, not me. I don't know why Xion would take my appearance instead of the one most important to me, but Naminé had told me that was what would happen.  
>I don't know what did happen exactly in that time. I don't recall reminding Kairi of my name when Roxas accidentally contacts her after falling off the clock tower, but that may or may not have happened.<br>But whatever did happen, roughly fifty weeks after I'd gone to sleep, Roxas at last found his way to me, whether because something had told him to, or because DiZ had captured him and left him no other choice.  
>In that short time where the line between sleep and wakefulness is blurred, where reality has yet to fully assert itself and dreams can appear real, I heard a voice very clearly.<br>"Hey! Come on there, wake up already." A pause, then, "Haven't you slept long enough now, Liam? If you don't get up, I'm gonna get up for you."  
>Still not fully awake, I managed a vague, "Huh?"<br>"Do you always take this long to get up? Man, I can't believe you. And I'm meant to be your Nobody. _I _never took this long."  
>"Roxas?"<br>"About time too," he grumbled, or at least his voice did, then he said no more. At least, not out loud.  
>"Sora!" two other voices called, muffled though. As I finally opened my eyes, feeling that lethargy everyone gets as they first get up, I recognised who they were. Donald and Goofy were looking through the transparent parts of the pod at me.<br>A huge yawn later – it had been a long nap, after all – and the pod opened outward again, several of the flower-like sections providing an easy way down and out. I ignored them anyway, stretching a bit then jumping down between him. As I did so, I felt a differences. I'd grown while I'd slept, and the old clothes were just a bit too small now. I imagine I looked even more ridiculous like that than I felt before I'd outgrown them. Say what you want about them, but I maintain they just look silly.  
>"That was some nap!" Jiminy said, hopping up onto my shoulder again.<br>"When did we go to sleep?" Goofy wondered. Donald looked blank.  
>"Let me just check the journal..." I waited, knowing what would happen. "It's blank! Just like Sora said... no, wait, there's a note here."<br>"Thank Naminé?" I suggested, hearing Sora's older voice. Maybe it's just me, but I think it suits him better than the younger one.  
>"How did-" he began, then shook himself. "Of course. You knew it was going to be there. What happened?"<br>I still didn't remember of course, I never would have those memories back. But I knew what should have happened.  
>"After we defeated Ansem, we went to a place called Castle Oblivion."<br>"I don't remember that," Donald said.  
>"I know. Neither do I. But we did go." I gave them a brief outline of what should have happened there. It wasn't too inaccurate, given that I had yet to see the book that had documented it.<br>"So where are we, Sora?" Jiminy asked afterwards. "Are we still in Castle Oblivion?"  
>"No. This is Twilight Town... where Roxas spent a lot of his time.<br>Donald and Goofy shared a look, then together asked, "Roxas?"  
>"C'mon, I'm sure I told you who Roxas is before. Don't you remember?" They both shook their heads. "My Nobody. I guess you don't remember what that is either, right?" Another shake. "Don't worry, it'll get explained in a bit."<em><br>You're lazy,_ Roxas's voice accused me.  
>"Why don't we go explore Twilight Town?" I suggested, ignoring the remark.<br>I like Twilight Town. At least, when it's not infested with Heartless or Nobodies. I'm fairly sure Nobodies were only in the simulated Twilight Town though. Anyway, it's a nice, quiet town. Traverse Town had a lot of bustle in the safety of the First District because there always seemed to be a handful of surviving newcomers from worlds that had been lost. Twilight Town on the other hand is peaceful and friendly. Even Hayner, once he got over our 'accidentally' ending up in their usual spot, was hard not to get along with.  
>Olette mentioned someone had been looking for us, the description immediately identified as Mickey by Donald, then Pence told us we'd find him up at the station.<br>On the path heading up to the station, I felt it worth warning them.  
>"We're going to get attacked up there," I murmured quietly, so the locals wouldn't hear. "So be ready for it. We'll also see the King, but don't be too loud about it – he doesn't want everyone to know about it."<br>"Just like you, Sora," Jiminy laughed.  
>"What's that meant to mean?"<br>"You're looking ahead again already, and you're looking out for everyone, not just us."  
>"Why does the King want us to keep it quiet?" Donald asked.<br>"I don't know everything, Donald. I still don't get everything that's going to happen. I don't know why yet."_  
>Liar. You do know why.<br>Oh hush,_ I replied. Or at least I hoped I was replying. _If I let on that I knew that much, I'd be here answering questions all day. It's easier this way._  
>Roxas did not answer.<br>Having him pass comment on me was going to be interesting, to say the least. It was slightly different to having him around the way I had before all this happened, but that was because I'd thought that Roxas up – this was really him, albeit as my own Nobody instead of Sora's.  
>As we came close to the station we noticed there was a lack of people around. A brief glance behind us told me no one was watching, so in preparation for what was going to happen, I called on my Keyblade.<br>It appeared, back in its default form, the familiar Kingdom Key. I searched the pocket I had stored the other chains for it in, finding nothing, then searched the other pockets too, confirming what I suspected. The only one I had was Oathkeeper, but even that was lacking the actual chain, it was just the charm itself. I guess that was so I couldn't use it too early. I would be stuck with the good old Kingdom Key again.  
>I was a little irritated at losing all the Keyblades I'd worked so hard to gather though – especially since it had Ultima Weapon among them.<br>To make up for it though, I called on a second Kingdom Key. Since Roxas was with me, that meant Ventus's Heart was back with me as well, giving me two Keyblades. This time, I was going to make use of that. I admit, it might have been nice to have actually borrowed one of Ventus's Keyblades, but I guess that would have meant having to get the chains for them as well.  
>Jiminy took cover in the hood of the jacket when he noticed the two Kingdom Keys, realizing the fight I'd mention was imminent. Both Donald and Goofy looked at me curiously when they saw I had two instead of one, but quickly brought out their own weapons when Dusks showed up around us. Goofy had the Adamant Shield he'd bought back in Traverse Town, though instead of the darker appearance it had then, it now bore a series of green panels in a golden outline, looking more like a turtle's shell. Donald of course still held on to Jafar's Staff.<br>Dusks are thankfully not all that strong, either when attacking or taking hits. At this point, this was doubly good for me – I was feeling a bit better now that the last of the effects from the long sleep had passed, but I was a little rusty, needing to get in practice again. The other reason this was good for me is because fighting with two Keyblades is not as straightforward as it sounds. I'm right-handed, and I have pretty bad coordination in my left hand. Remember when I took on Leon, way back when I first got to Traverse Town, I had trouble sending his fire attack back at him? That was with my right hand, and mostly due to inexperience. Now I had the same problem here with the left, except it wasn't just inexperience, it was partly natural too.  
>Mostly I used the left Kingdom Key to supplement the other, since I'd fought with that one for much longer. It made a difference, and more than once it gave me the chance to block an attack that I wouldn't have been able to reach in time with only one Keyblade, and that gave me the opportunity to swiftly turn on the offending Dusk with the other one.<br>Two or one, it didn't make that much difference. We still fought alongside each other just as we had the Heartless before. Not quite exactly the same though – it is just me, or does Donald sound like he's saying 'I farted' when he uses magic?  
>Anyway, we were still not long out from our long sleep, and even feeling better it still held an effect on us. The Dusks just kept on coming and coming, and even I had to admit defeat before long, too weary to keep on going.<br>One Dusk drew close to me, got ready to attack, then was destroyed. I looked up to see for just a few moments a diminutive figure in a black coat land, then take off again with the sounds of the coat flapping slightly in the air.  
>When it landed again, the Dusks were gone. The figure had large black ears, and in one hand held the Kingdom Key D, with the white handle and golden blade.<br>"Mickey," I murmured quietly, gesturing to the others to keep this quiet.  
>He looked around furtively, then dashed back to us, casting a cure spell on us along the way. "Shh! You gotta board the train and leave town. The train knows the way. Here – take these too." He handed me a pouch of munny, and the book – the one I'd lent to Naminé.<br>"Thanks," I replied. "Take care of yourself, Mi-"  
>"Shh!" he cut me off insistently, then he was away again.<br>"What that really him?" Donald asked me.  
>"Of course it was. I told you we'd see him."<br>"That must mean Riku's here somewhere too then," Goofy told me. "We can look for him."  
>"He's not here. I don't know where he is exactly... but I'm gonna check out this train the King told us to take. How about you guys?"<br>"Do ya really have to ask?" Goofy asked. He and Donald pulled the same faces they do for Sora, and I couldn't help but laugh at them.  
>"Come on then guys – let's stick together for one more adventure."<br>Hayner brought his gang along to see us off, and Olette noticed the munny pouch. That meant Roxas had almost definitely gone to the simulated Twilight Town.  
>Travelling on that odd train, I noticed two things. First, as we left Twilight Town, I was certain I saw Axel and Naminé, up on Sunset Hill.<br>The second was not nearly so interesting, more like an observation. Have you ever noticed that the view from the windows is remarkably similar to the Lanes Between? That in itself reminded me I was going to have to get up to scratch on flying the Gummi Ship again.


	27. The Mysterious Tower

I've often wondered about the Mysterious Tower. Is it a world in its own right, or is it just a very difficult part of Twilight Town to reach for those who don't have the benefit of what I suspect is Yen Sid's own train.  
>For that matter, just how did Pete get there, or anywhere else for that matter? I highly doubt he uses dark corridors, so I have to assume he has his own Gummi Ship. Anyone wondering what might happen if it just 'happened' to get shot down? I never got the chance to, probably very fortunately.<br>Anyway, my idle wondering aside, when we disembarked the train it simply vanished. This bothered Goofy slightly, but since I wasn't concerned by it, he let it drop and we went on to find Pete at the doors of the tower.  
>"Hey, Pete!" I called to him. "Whatcha doing?"<br>"I sent some of my lackeys inside to see if the master of this here tower's as big and tough as they say. Word is, he's a sorcerer, and a real powerful one at that. Doesn't matter how tough he is though, once he's a Heartless he'll do as I say!"  
>"Oh yeah? So... what'd happen if I told you I'm going in there to exterminate your Heartless?"<br>"And just who're you, huh?" he asked, turning around. "Ah! It's you! What're you two doing here... and who're you?"  
>"I'm Sora... and I'm the one who toasted Maleficent," I added.<br>"You! You're the one who did it huh? Well, you're gonna pay for that! Heartless, round up!"  
>I'm pretty sure he has other Heartless available, but my guess is he went with the Shadows because he didn't know I had the Keyblades. The look of consternation he had when I summoned them suggested he was regretting something at least, and his hurried departure during the short fight that ensued suggested he really didn't want to stick around near me after seeing them.<em><br>I see he still hasn't learned,_ Roxas remarked. _I thought giving him a beating back in Agrabah might have knocked some of that out of him, but apparently not.  
>Pete never changes,<em> I told only change I've ever noticed is between the Timeless River Pete and the present day Pete.  
>With Pete no longer barring the way and the Shadows easily dealt with, we headed on into the tower. More Heartless appeared along the way, presumably the ones Pete had called his lackeys. At least here we saw some variety, though they seemed kept to the weaker Heartless. It didn't really seem right for Pete to use weak Heartless in the home of someone like Yen Sid, but I wasn't complaining. I know the real reason, of course – but trying to find a sensible explanation for it didn't really hurt. The way I saw it, this was really happening, it wasn't a game any more, so surely there had to be some reason behind it?<br>"You guys know who lives here, don't you?" I asked the others on the way up.  
>"Master Yen Sid," Donald answered. "He was the King's teacher!"<br>"Do ya know him, Sora?" Goofy frowned for a moment then added, "Silly question, I guess. You know everyone, right?"  
>"I don't know about everyone," I laughed. "I'm working on it though. I've never met him, but I know of him. I wouldn't put it past him to know a few of the secrets I'm still keeping under wraps."<br>"Secrets? You?" Donald looked curious. "What kinda secrets are you hiding?"  
>"The secret kind of secrets. Everyone has a few. Some of them I even try to keep from myself."<br>"That's impossible."  
>"I know. Hasn't stopped me trying yet."<br>We continued on up, defeating Heartless until at last we reached the Sorcerer's Loft. I let them go in first, knowing what I was going to say would irritate them even more than Sora's remark does.  
>He sat at the desk opposite us, hands steepled in front of him as if he was expecting us – which he probably was.<br>"Master Yen Sid!" Donald said, bowing as Goofy stood to attention. "It's an honour!"  
>I came up behind them and added, "Howdy, Sorcerer." Both of them looked to me, aghast. Normally I never failed to show manners where expected – just look at my first visit to Atlantica, and how I treated Triton.<br>Yen Sid was unconcerned though – if anything I think he was more amused by this, because I'm certain he gave me a wink before they turned back to him.  
>"So, you are..." he paused, then continued, "I understand you go by the name of Sora?"<br>"That's me," I answered, understanding the implications of his statement. I had been right – he did know some of my secrets, among them who I really was. Obviously, he phrased his question that way so I would know he respected my choice to use Sora's name here. Not that I had much of a choice really, since going around telling everyone I wasn't would probably have changed some things that should be left alone.  
>"And have you seen the King yet?"<br>"Just before we came here, Master," Goofy answered. "But he didn't stop for long."  
>"Yes, he has been quite busy of late. Therefore, it would seem that the task of instructing the two of you falls upon my shoulders."<br>"Two?" Donald exclaimed. "But what about Sora?"  
>"Sora no doubt already knows what I have to explain." I just nodded. "Then you should go next door and meet with the three good fairies there and ask them for some more suitable clothes. Those look a bit small for you."<br>"You noticed," I murmured, prompting a faint smile to touch Yen Sid's face. I left him to explain things to them, thanking myself for knowing in advance. Having to learn from him would have made me feel like I was going back to school, and that wasn't something I wanted to go through again.  
>"You're here at last!" one of the fairies said, pulling me further into the room. I never can tell them straight, so I'm not even going to try. Besides my persuading them to cooperate a little earlier, there isn't anything different at this point, and it wasn't long before I had the familiar black outfit. Sometimes I wonder what it might have been like if I could try it for myself, rather than as Sora, but I'm not likely to be doing that any time soon.<br>Before I left though, I noticed there were seven mirrors in the room – like earlier, this was the Final Mix of the second game, giving me access to the Limit Form in addition to the others. I had no idea what the seventh mirror was for though – as far as I knew, there were only six forms, Valour, Wisdom, Limit, Master, Final and Anti. The last of which I was both hoping I would and wouldn't get a chance to try – while I wanted to find out just what it was capable of for myself, the memory of being a Heartless also put me off. I did not want to be like that again.  
>I could have checked the mirror, since like the rest it would probably have given a few ideas as to what that last form was, but I decided to leave it be and find out the hard way.<br>I was also given Valour form, along with the chain for Star Seeker. You might not be able to switch it out, but I could. Or at least, I could make it my primary (right hand) Keyblade. It's not too different from the Kingdom Key, but allows for an extra strike in an airborne combo. Not something I'd actually done often up until now, but I never knew when I'd need it.  
>What the games don't show you here is the short corridor that links Yen Sid's room to the room with the fairies, and it was in that room that Yen Sid met me before I got back to Donald and Goofy.<br>"Do not be unduly alarmed," he warned. "They are still learning, in a manner which they will find easier to understand. I wanted to speak with you alone before you rejoined them."  
>"You know who I am, don't you?"<br>"Indeed. As does the King. I have asked him to keep it to himself, so you need not worry. Be careful out there, Liam. Your knowledge has altered certain events, and your presence in place of Sora has changed others. Not everything will unfold as you believe it will."  
>"I don't suppose you'd care to give me some idea what some of those things might be?"<br>"The future, such as it is, is concealed from me. I can know only the present and the past. But you must know two things: The Organization is aware that you possess knowledge of what may indeed be the future, and has been instructed to exploit it at any cost."  
>"Like I'm gonna let that happen," I snorted derisively.<br>"Quite. The other thing you must know... your Nobody as you have no doubt noticed is awake within you. Do not forget about him – though he has returned all that he took from you and no longer possesses a physical form, his capabilities are still there. If he chooses to allow it, there may be times when you can borrow this from him."_  
>So play nice, or I won't let you,<em> Roxas added.  
>That explained the seventh mirror. Roxas form, anyone?<br>"Got it," I said out loud. "Anything else?"  
>"Only that you should beware in the world of Agrabah. I can tell you little more than that, but I believe you are more than up to the task of handling the changes you have wrought in that world."<br>Remember way back when I went to Agrabah, I stole Jafar's staff from him? This was the first bit of evidence that suggested doing that had been a very bad idea.  
>With that private part of my visit handled, we both returned to the main room, where he raised the Gummi Ship for us, informed us we would have to open new pathways – telling me in passing that I'd have to get used to doing more than just flying the Gummi Ship this time – then sent us on our way.<br>The Navigation Gummis previously installed by Cid much earlier on had been given a new use by Yen Sid, allowing us to see a large map of the Lanes Between. Only two worlds were visible on it, Twilight Town and Hollow Bastion, the pathway between them already open. There were a number of readings that it also recognised as being worlds that were not yet reachable, and so while we also re-familiarized ourselves with the controls, I also went along marking all of the worlds, and adding a mark where the World that Never Was would be, as the system couldn't yet detect it.  
>And so we headed onward to Hollow Bastion, and out into the new adventure for real now.<p> 


	28. Back to Hollow Bastion

Piloting the Gummi Ship was a skill that came back to me much quicker than fighting had done. As before, there was little in the way of obstacles in the Lanes Between at this point, though I knew from Yen Sid's warning at least that to properly open the new routes between the worlds I was going to see my share of Gummi Heartless and Nobodies.  
>With little to trouble us, we arrived at Hollow Bastion without incident. This time we got to see the whole town, or what had been rebuilt so far at least. Not to mention some Soldiers on a roof, clattering off ahead.<br>We passed through the marketplace, pausing to stop by Scrooge, who was trying to remember how to make sea-salt ice cream. I was sort of hoping he'd remember before I went back, because I've always wanted to try some.  
>Then as we entered the more residential area, I got my first sight of Cid's Claymores. I'd forgotten to warn the others about them, and it's probably just as well – they were much bigger than I remember them being. One of them alone could have taken on the three of us easily. Good thing they were on our side.<br>"What are these things?" Donald asked, watching them form up then fade out around us.  
>"You mean Sora didn't tell you?" Yuffie called from the top of a nearby building.<br>"I forgot to mention it," I called back.  
>"Look out behind!"<br>I didn't bother to look. Star Seeker came into one hand, which I quickly changed the grip on so I could jab behind me. The sound of a Nobody being defeated came back, closely followed by a mass of Dusks surrounding us.  
>That fight took no time at all. With two Keyblades, the Claymores, and Yuffie flicking her own weapons down at the Dusks, it was over in mere moments.<br>"I see you're still in top form," she remarked afterwards, jumping down to meet us.  
>"What'd you expect from me, huh? I'd do badly?"<br>"Just like you," she laughed. "We're doing great, since you didn't ask."  
>"Nah, I just knew you'd say it if I didn't mention it."<br>"Yep, that's you alright. Had a feeling we'd be seeing you again, you know."  
>"Yeah, I know. You all remembered us at the same time. What was it Leon said?" I thought for a moment, then pulled off a better imitation of Leon than Sora does. I know that because he told me so later on.<br>"Come on," Yuffie said afterwards. "We're all based over at Merlin's house. You can come meet everyone again."  
>When we entered Merlin's house, with Cid working away at the computer, Aerith and Leon were already there to meet us.<br>"Meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" Yuffie introduced them.  
>"Good to see you again, Sora," Aerith said. "We missed you."<br>"Not all of us," Cid muttered.  
>"Don't think I didn't hear that, gramps!" I told him, making him mutter something under his breath.<br>"I knew it," Leon murmured.  
>"Don't tell me you're picking up the future too now," I replied.<br>"Hardly," he smiled, a rare thing from him. "A while back everyone just suddenly remembered you, all at the same time."  
>"Remembered?" Donald asked. "You forgot about us?"<br>"Side effect of Castle Oblivion," I calmed him. "Couldn't be helped."  
>"Is that where you've been?" Aerith asked. "I've never heard of it before."<br>"Used to be called the Land of Departure until about the same time Hollow Bastion got invaded by the Heartless. There was... something that had to be done there."  
>"Something you don't want to talk about?" Cid asked curiously.<br>"Not exactly. Something none of us remember. I don't fully understand it myself, so asking me about it isn't gonna do anyone any good. Anyway, we're sort of on another adventure... finding Riku, the King and being as much of an annoyance to Organization Thirteen as possible."  
>"We are?" Goofy asked.<br>"We will be if what I think is going to happen actually does happen," I answered. "And I know, none of you have seen them. Don't worry about it."  
>"Let us know if there's anything we can do to help though," Aerith added.<br>"Naturally. Thanks everyone. Go on, Cid. I know you're going to say it, but go on anyway."  
>"Haven't you gotten rid of that habit yet?" he asked acidly. I just smirked back. "Fine. Don't go thanking us just yet. We've still got problems in Hollow Bastion."<br>"Big problems," Leon continued. "Heartless, and things we've never seen before."  
>"Ah, those would be the Nobodies. White creatures, mostly human-like in shape?" Leon nodded. "Yep, that's Nobodies alright."<br>"Then let's cut to the chase. We're hoping the three of you might give us a hand around here."  
>"You really think you need to ask, huh? I mean what do you think of me – that I can't handle a few more Heartless after taking on Ansem?"<br>"I forgot who I'm dealing with," he muttered ruefully. "Come with me to the Bailey. There's something there you need to see."  
>"We'll be along in a moment – Merlin's about to show up."<br>Leon nodded and went on ahead, then Merlin appeared.  
>"I wish I knew how you did that," Yuffie said, shaking her head.<br>"Did what?" Merlin asked.  
>"Not you. Sora. They've agreed to help out, by the way."<br>"Splendid! We'll be counting on you. Oh, yes... did you give them the cards dear?"  
>Aerith shook her head, then handed us each our honorary membership cards.<br>"Thanks. And we've still got it, before you ask," I added, answering Merlin's question. He asked it anyway.  
>"What about your magic?"<br>"Right. Now we've got that one straightened out, we'd better get to Leon at the Bailey."  
>It's not really that far to the Bailey. We were delayed slightly by a few Heartless, which I used just to make sure I hadn't inadvertently lied to Merlin about my magic. I hadn't, in case you're wondering – every spell I had from my original adventure I still had here. At least it would mean one less thing to collect, with the exception of the new magic added. Which I think is just Magnet.<br>Anyway, we met Leon at one of the massive windows in the Bailey.  
>"Down there," Leon he said, pointing outward.<br>"Hollow Bastion," I identified the view. "The castle I went to last time, at least."  
>"That's the one. You know what we're trying to do here, don't you?"<br>"Restore it back to how it used to be, back when it was still called Radiant Garden. Though you're not meant to remember that name yet, so don't tell anyone I told it to you."  
>Leon nodded, then pointed further down, toward the sea of Heartless at the base of the castle. "Except those Heartless are a problem. Not to mention..."<br>"Those Nobodies," I finished, seeing the Dusks. "Under the command of Organization Thirteen."  
>As if on cue, Xemnas's voice said, "You called?"<br>"Hello again Xemnas. Why don't you come out and see if you can beat me this time?"  
>"Oh, no. Not yet, boy. We have... a celebration to hold first."<br>"Celebration?" Leon murmured to me.  
>"He means a fight. Get ready Leon, and don't go anywhere you guys," I added, noticing Donald and Goofy running ahead. On cue, the gates closed, locking us in, and the entire area filled with Dusks.<br>Needless to say, they didn't last all that long with all five of us on hand. Roxas did complain a little about us destroying the few Samurai Nobodies that showed up, but I told him unless he could command them from where he was he could stop moaning about it. I got a snippy response back that it was my own fault for needing him so I could be complete.  
>Once dealt with, I heard what Roxas confirmed was Saïx's voice say, "The Keyblade... a truly marvellous weapon – let alone the power of foresight its bearer holds. If only they were in more capable hands..."<br>I didn't bother to demand they show themselves, ignoring the laughter and heading right outside.  
>"Organization Thirteen!" Goofy exclaimed, seeing the six remaining Nobodies. Roxas identified each of them for me, even though the hoods on their coats were all raised. Something to do with each of the coats being designed or worn slightly differently to the others, I understand.<br>"Not a chance!" I said.  
>"Think maybe we could be friends?" one of them asked sarcastically. There was a shared look among two of them. I still had what it took to confuse people with that, even after being incomplete for a whole year.<br>Then they decided with that out the way it was time to vanish, but Xigbar decided to get in the way at the steps beside us. I'd prepared for this, putting myself as close to the steps as possible, Star Seeker in hand, a plan already in place. Thinning out the enemy a little is always a good thing, right?  
>Wrong. But as usual, the effects of my meddling aren't immediately apparent.<br>Just before Xigbar appeared, without even bothering to look toward him I swung out Star Seeker to my right. A dark corridor appeared, engulfing part of it, then Xigbar appeared. He didn't move for a few moments after appearing, then looked down to Star Seeker sticking out of him.  
>"End of the line," I said, looking over at him with a grin, then pulled it out of him. Moments later, he faded back into the darkness. "One down, five left to go."<br>_You know, you can be one nasty guy at times,_ Roxas remarked. _I'm glad I never had to go up against you._  
>I didn't bother to mention the confrontation he and I were likely to have at Memory Skyscraper. I was hoping we'd still get it, but obviously I'd have to wait and see.<br>"Ya sure we can deal with the rest, Sora?" Goofy asked.  
>"You really need to ask? Come on, Goofy – we defeated Ansem, didn't we? And Xemnas once just before that, remember. What's the problem with beating him again, huh?"<br>"Maybe he used that to learn about you, so he could face you better next time," Leon suggested.  
>"Maybe. Doesn't really matter though. Excuse me a moment though – other worlds are calling, and I've gotta open the pathway."<br>I took out the membership card and unlocked the first of the Keyholes. I didn't bother with the pose Sora does at that point because I happen to know no one else can see that bit. I did find it a little ironic though – in the first adventure I went around locking Keyholes, now I was going around unlocking them. Different kind of Keyholes I guess.  
>"Time for us to go," I said then, turning to leave.<br>"Sora," Leon called. "They look pretty tough. You probably don't need me to say it, but... take care of yourself out there."  
>"Hey. This is me we're talking about. Since when have I ever been the one to worry about?"<br>"How about when you were a Heartless?" Donald suggested.  
>"Don't remind me," I replied, trying not to think about it. "But that was necessary. It had to happen, otherwise Kairi would never have woken up, and Ansem would have had free reign to do as he pleased."<p> 


	29. A Dragon and a Trap

Twilight Town had temporarily disappeared from the map when we returned to the Gummi Ship – or more accurately, it was still there but something was barring access to it. Something that looked suspiciously like darkness. I can't confirm this, but I strongly suspect it was to prevent me from going there while the Organization searched the place, looking for the Mansion's basement where I had awoken.  
>With two routes to choose from and nothing keeping me from deciding which to take, I went the same way I always have at this point – through the Asteroid Sweep and out to the Land of Dragons. Better known to you and I as China sometime during the Hun invasion. My history is terrible, so you'll have to figure out when it actually happens for yourself.<br>That, and I'm lazy.  
>The other reason I picked that route is that I figured it was likely to be the easier route to go through, since I'd been warned I was going to have to do more than just pilot the Gummi Ship. Donald and Goofy helped of course, which made up for my still terrible aim, but I at least got a few of the Gummi Heartless and Nobodies that appeared.<br>When we arrived at the Land of Dragons, we weren't far from a burning village. Even with the trees in the way, I could smell the wood burning. There's a very distinctive kind of scent to it that I've caught once too often to suit me.  
>We could hear the conversation between Mulan and Mushu, not quite clearly but enough to know there was someone there. When we spotted the shadow of Mushu against a rock, Donald mistook it for a Heartless. I corrected him quietly, then came into view just as Mushu said, "Whatever. You just scared – admit it."<br>"Aren't you?" Mulan asked him.  
>"Of course he isn't," I told her. "He's a Dragon, after all. Nice to see you again, Mushu – remember us?"<br>The little Dragon turned quickly from his perch on Mulan's shoulder to see us.  
>"Sora! And Donald and Goofy too!"<br>"You... know them?" Mulan asked, eyeing me warily. I guess our appearance wasn't exactly something to be expected at that time.  
>"Know them?" Mushu asked. "We went kicking bad guy butt together!"<br>"Something like that," I said. "And you'd be Mulan."  
>She looked surprised for a moment, then trying to deepen her voice answered, "No! I'm um, I'm Ping. Son of Fa Zhou."<br>"I know. But I also know you're Fa Mulan. Don't worry – I'll keep your secret."  
>"How did you know? You've never met me before."<br>"It's a gift Sora has," Donald answered for me. "You get used to it after a while."  
>"You make it sound like a bad thing, Donald," I teased. "If you come with us, the chances are the other recruits at the camp won't catch on so easily. You just have to remember to act the part. And Mushu..." I thought for a moment, remembering that he'd be the reason her identity was revealed, then decided that was probably best left untouched so finished, "Nah. Never mind."<br>"What? What were you gonna say?" he persisted.  
>"Something better left unsaid."<br>"What's that meant to mean?"  
>"I don't want to change what's going to happen too much. It might upset certain other things."<br>"You can see-" Mulan began, then realization dawned. "So that's how you knew me."  
>"Sure thing. Why don't we head on into the encampment? It is just down the road, after all."<br>True to form, my not always perfect memory neglected to remind me about the risks of standing in the line of soldiers forming up. I got pushed aside by one of the other recruits, who managed to just miss hitting me before Donald jumped on him. The two of them ended up fighting, and two other soldiers pushed in front of me and the first one. That one promptly went after them, Donald's attack ignored for the moment.  
>I got in the way of that, tripping him up – I don't like to fight normally, I prefer to resort to a few tricks instead. This sort of backfired though, since the first pushed one of the other two from the line, who then turned on me and got a black eye as a reward. Well, he did when it showed up later, anyway.<br>We all paused when we heard Mulan call out, "Please!" looking helpless. Then she remembered herself and added, "Knock it off!"  
>"Knock what off," the first one grumbled.<br>"This," I told him, hitting him from the side.  
>"You hit me!"<br>"You shoved me out of the line! Serves you right, you little-"  
>"Soldiers!" a voice definitely suited to command rang out. "Back in line!"<br>We quickly tried not to look like we'd just been brawling as the Captain passed by. The little soldier glared at me after he'd passed, so I made as if to hit him again. It didn't connect, but he did look ridiculous, leaning back from it anyway.  
>"Sora," Goofy caught my attention. "Look there!"<br>I looked over where he was pointing. A single Shadow was there.  
>"Heartless," I murmured. "And it looks like it isn't alone," I added, seeing more starting to appear.<br>The three soldiers looked to each other, then decided to sit back and watch as the four of us dealt with the Heartless. I tried to give Mulan a bit of help with the sword she was using, but it's just a bit different to a Keyblade, and I wasn't much help. I did try though.  
>The Captain had apparently noticed our fight and had the other soldiers stand back while we dealt with them. One Shadow somehow managed to escape all four of us and head towards him, which he watched completely calmly, as if he knew I was going to handle it for him by stomping on it. I hadn't exactly intended to do that, but the jump attack I made was slightly off target. Still worked though.<br>I glanced back to the others, seeing them finish off the last of them, then turned to him.  
>"Before you ask, I'm Sora, the little one is Donald, the tall one is Goofy and the last is Ping, son of Fa Zhou. You get all of us or none of us," I added, cutting over the normal argument that would have risen over her ability to fight.<br>"Your battle skills are encouraging," he told me. "You are welcome in my troop... though I would advise you to teach Ping how to handle a blade better. If not for your statement, I would not allow him to join."  
>"No one's good right off the bat," I replied. "That's why they start out as recruits, isn't it?"<br>"And recruits are tested so they may better themselves until they are worthy of serving in the imperial army. Since you believe he has potential, you will all share in those tests."  
>"So, all we have to do is take on your three assignments?"<br>"Just who are you, Sora?" he asked, eyeing me suspiciously. "And how do you know these things?"  
>"Call it a good hunch," I answered, not willing to trust him with that secret yet – either the explanation everyone else there got, or the real truth that only Naminé, Roxas, Yen Sid and Mickey knew. And I wasn't certain about Roxas or Mickey, either.<br>The three assignments were hardly challenging, not since I didn't have to worry about that Morale gauge that appears. That was annoying, but not having to deal with it made things much easier. When the time came to sweep the Heartless out of the camp we split up, which made that particular assignment even easier. True, Mulan and Goofy did stick together since we weren't sure if she could handle a Heartless by herself, but she quickly disabused us of that idea.  
>That gave me a little theory – when Donald and Goofy first met the Heartless in Traverse Town, they got their heads handed to them, which is what made them land on me. Except when they fought alongside me, they didn't seem to have any trouble. The theory is, the Keyblade somehow knows who the allies of its bearer are, and extends its effect to their weapons too.<br>Interesting, at least. It also sort of explains why any of the Organization who go with Roxas are also able to liberate Hearts from Emblem Heartless.  
>Anyway, the Captain sent us to clear the path that lead up to the summit of the mountain, though he mentioned in passing he was still unconvinced about Mulan's ability to fight. He allowed her to remain, probably because he wanted to keep on benefiting from the rest of us. You know, for all the lack of experience I had way back when I first picked up the Keyblade, if you'd seen me fighting even with just one of them at this point, you'd never believe I'd once had no skill at all with it.<br>I'm getting sidetracked again. Didn't I say not to let me keep doing that?  
>On the way up the trail I saw Shan-Yu's hawk pass overhead, and briefly entertained the thought of shooting it down with some light from one of the Keyblades. I wasn't entirely certain if this would alter things though, and let it fly on unharmed.<br>The three soldiers who had pushed in line earlier found a new respect for us all by the time we reached the summit, and the little one even grudgingly apologised for trying to slug me. I imagine he wouldn't have minded the chance to do it again though.  
>Once it was just us four left to enter the camp, Mushu popped up out of Mulan's armour.<br>"Okay, girl, here's your chance. I just saw this real shady guy, and I know it's Shan-Yu." Mulan looked to me.  
>"He's telling the truth. Of course, it's a trap and we're not going to catch Shan-Yu in the cave just outside the village, but that doesn't matter. Mushu isn't lying to you."<br>"If we know it's a trap," she started thoughtfully. "Then we can do something to avoid getting caught in it."  
>I sighed. "I'll go with you if you decide to do this, but I don't think you'll be getting out of it that easily Mulan. I've tried to think my way out of events happening before, and they still happened." Riku taking the Keyblade off me, in case you're wondering what I was talking about.<br>We ended up going into the cave anyway, and once they saw it was a dead end, Donald and Goofy started to head out again. The barrier formed at the entrance, blocking them out, and Mulan and me in.  
>"Told you so," I said, then brought out the Keyblades and turned on the Heartless that appeared.<br>Either something was powering them up, or there were more Heartless than I remember appearing there, because I actually had trouble holding them off in there. Maybe I'd just got too used to having Donald and Goofy around lending a hand. I used up my reserves of magic in no time just keeping Mulan and me healed, and once that ran out we were in a tight spot, backed up against one wall and surrounded.  
><em>You're hopeless,<em> Roxas sighed. _Here – call on me. You know how your Drive forms work, just call on me and be ready. You're low on health, so you'll be able to borrow my Limit Break. Just don't try and overdo it, because once it passes you probably won't have a second one._  
>"Don't get excited," I warned Mulan out loud. "I'm going to do something about this that's a bit out of the ordinary." I dealt with one Heartless that got too close, then called out, "Roxas!"<br>For a few moments my view blurred, everything I could see seeming to slow down. I felt the Kingdom Key leave my left hand, leaving me with just Star Seeker in the other. Oathkeeper and Oblivion are the only two Keyblades I can dual-wield when borrowing from Roxas, or so he told me.  
>Then my view cleared, apparently with no difference to it at all. My clothes felt different, and it took only a few moments to understand why. The clothes the good fairies were inherently magic, and whenever I activated any Drive form they'd change to show it. In this case, they'd become Roxas's Organization coat, complete with the gloves and everything. Hood pushed back though.<br>I gave a vicious grin, then with Roxas's directions pulled off his Limit Break. Not Magic Hour, the one he gets when dual-wielding, but his normal one. It didn't make me immune to damage, but it did allow me to carve a wide path through the Heartless. Mulan followed not far behind, keeping them off my back.  
>The Limit Break didn't last long, but it had the effect we wanted. I would have finished my borrowed Roxas form, but there were still Heartless around. I could revert back again after I'd dealt with them. The coat doesn't get in the way as much as I thought it would, but that might be because Roxas had it so it wouldn't, and since I was borrowing from him it had carried over.<br>The form finished by itself during the last of the fighting, allowing me to pull out the Kingdom Key again while we finished off the last of the Heartless. With that, the barrier disappeared, and once we were sure we were alright, it was time to go back to the camp outside.


	30. Saving the Emperor

Predictably, as we'd been distracted by the trap, Shan-Yu had free reign to attack the encampment, and so once again I caught the acrid smell of charred wood even in this snowy region. I noted in passing that the cold, something which normally bothers me more than excessive heat does, wasn't even noticeable. Either it wasn't cold, or the clothes the fairies had given me handled things like this too. Maybe Agrabah would be a bit more bearable this time.  
>Mulan was clearly bothered that it had happened on our watch, hurriedly finding the Captain, insisting he not over do it."<br>"You!" he said to me, ignoring this. "You appear to know what will happen, so why did you not you warn us?"  
>"It wouldn't have made any difference," I answered calmly. "It was going to happen no matter what I did. I don't like to get involved when I know I can't change the outcome. Bad for morale."<br>"A defeat more so."  
>"I know. But I also know this defeat will only be short-lived. I know exactly where to find Shan-Yu, and I know the four of us can handle it. Let us go, Captain."<br>"The summit," he told me in lieu of an actual command. "But if you are wrong..."  
>"I'm never wrong," I replied, then showed the way up the mountain. Once we were out of earshot, I added, "No one get disheartened. I know it'll seem formidable, but we'll overcome it. Just trust me."<br>"I think I'm starting to get used to that," Mulan laughed.  
>"I don't think I am," Donald muttered. "I keep worrying about what he's..." he trailed off as we reached the bottom of the summit. Shan-Yu stood at the top, a massive bunch of Heartless behind him. "Next time, come right out and tell us, will you?" Donald asked me testily. "They outnumber us."<br>My answer was simply to call on both Keyblades and charge. Shan-Yu looked momentarily amazed at the audacity I displayed, then he recovered and called the Heartless to attack, sending tides of the little buggers heading down toward us.  
>Naturally, since I'd started up toward him, I hit the leading edge first. Goofy and Mulan weren't far behind me though, and Donald kept in the rear, supporting the three of us even as he set about sending magic their way.<br>My original plan had been to just keep going up the summit until I reached Shan-Yu, and never mind the consequences of dealing with him myself instead. However, before I'd even got half way up, the Heartless were so numerous that I had no choice but to stop advancing. Since I was well out of Donald's range by now, I wasn't going to get any help now. I had to deal with them myself.  
><em>Want a hand?<em> Roxas offered.  
>"I can deal with them just fine, thank you," I told him aloud, keeping most of my focus on the Heartless. Numerous or not, they weren't as troublesome as those back in the cave had been.<br>Part way through, I noticed Mulan shove the other soldiers aside and take the cannon from them. I took advantage of her momentary search for something to light it with and began to run back down the summit, dealing with any Heartless stupid enough to get too close as I went. As Mulan lit the cannon with Mushu, Donald and Goofy prudently followed my lead, with the soldiers not far behind.  
>"Mu- I mean Ping! The Captain!" I called to her. She glanced back, then quickly ran to him, taking him around the rock as the avalanche began to crash down the side of the mountain.<br>I was too out of breath to give any warning to either her or the Captain, and so naturally when Mushu showed up complaining, he discovered the truth about her.  
>"You all knew, didn't you?" he demanded.<br>"With good reason," I answered, but before I could say anything, he shook his head.  
>"I can't believe you. You all lied to me. High treason and dishonouring the army... I should deal out that punishment, but you did save me. You are no longer welcome among my troops however. You're all dismissed."<br>"Captain-"  
>"You heard me!" he snapped. "The Emperor is waiting," he called to the remaining troops. "Move out!"<br>Mulan and Mushu were both trying not to lay any blame as they left. I figured it was probably best to take their minds off it.  
>"Go after them," I told them.<br>"Huh? But the Captain dismissed us," Mulan protested.  
>"Don't you want to warn him about that?" I pointed up the mountain. On cue, Shan-Yu burst out of the snow with a furious roar. "He's heading for the Imperial City, after all."<br>Mulan took this in, then looked back down to the departing army. "After them!" she cried, scooping up Mushu.

I was still winded from having to run up and then down the mountain, but I had enough left in me to keep up with Mulan, who had discarded the armour along the way.  
>We had to push through the soldiers to get through the gates, as the guards weren't going to let us through. When we reached the head of the column, we call called to the Captain.<br>"You again," he said, clearly not happy about seeing us. "I dismissed you."  
>"It's not that!" Mulan insisted. "Shan-Yu is alive! We all saw him come this way!"<br>"Why should I believe you this time?"  
>"She's telling you the truth, Captain," I told him. Look up at the towers if you don't believe us."<br>Once again on cue, Shan-Yu was seen jumping down from a tower.  
>"Soldiers, guard the palace – do not let the enemy near the Emperor!" When only the three soldiers we already knew complied, he added, "That's an... order?"<br>The soldiers became a teeming mass of Heartless, all of them except the three we'd brawled with back at the encampment.  
>"Leave this to us," I told him. "You go protect your Emperor – we'll handle this ourselves."<br>"But..."  
>"That's an order, Captain!" I insisted, taking out several Heartless as I did so.<br>We continued to fight off the Heartless as we fell back toward the gates of palace itself. I shot down Shan-Yu's pet hawk along the way as I'd planned to earlier. Much like Iago in the first fight with Genie-Jafar, he doesn't stay down for long, but keeping him out the way is definitely a plus.  
>When we reached the gates, the Captain was stood between Shan-Yu and the Emperor, who I have to admit doesn't look all that Emperor like to me. I did something I hadn't done for a long while, throwing Star Seeker spinning through the air at Shan-Yu. It didn't have much effect on him, but it distracted him long enough for the Captain to get the Emperor safely through the gates, which the three remaining soldiers hastily closed. Now it was down to us.<br>"Donald!" I called. "Keep the Heartless away from those gates! Goofy, keep an eye on his hawk and keep it out of action! Mulan-"  
>"Let me at him," she told me fiercely. I just nodded, between the two of us charging Shan-Yu. He drew out his own sword, a rather unpleasant looking blade it has to be said. Perhaps wisely for him, he chose to focus on me, though I can't say it was the best move – I would have run myself, but I don't think that thought occurred to him.<br>I'd had plenty of experiences fighting with armed opponents by now, though up until now I'd only ever had one Keyblade. Two definitely made things more challenging, and not just for them. I had to keep calm and focus, concentrating and making choices as I went along – which one to block with and which to follow up with, when to start a chain of attacks and which one to continue it with, the list goes on.  
>Shan-Yu on the other hand was faced with the challenges of which blade to block, either of mine or Mulan's – let alone Mushu constantly hopping up on her shoulder to further aggravate him.<br>"Sora!" Donald shouted. "There's too many of them to handle – I need some support over here!"  
>I thought for a moment, then to Goofy, "How's that hawk?"<br>"Down and outta it again, Sora," he replied.  
>"Over here then, before he gets up again. Mulan, can you handle him for a moment?"<br>"Sure thing, Sora," she told me, easily deflecting a strike Shan-Yu made for her as I backed away and out of that part of the fight. Once Goofy joined me, it took only a call of, "Power!" to bring out Valour form, and with it the mass-boost to the power it gives. Since I was already dual-wielding, that particular ability was replaced with a boost to the number of combos I could deal out, or at least I assume so.  
>Don't ask me what happens to Goofy or any other party members when I activate Drive forms by the way. Even I haven't been able to figure that one out.<br>Despite otherwise overwhelming numbers of Heartless straining Donald's attempts to keep them off the gates, Valour form allowed me to make short work of them, carving through them like the proverbial hot knife in butter, with enough time left over for me to fall on Shan-Yu and finish him off before I reverted, bringing Goofy back to the party just in time to lay the smack down on his hawk again. Literally as well as metaphorically. If it wasn't for injuries not showing up here like they do in the real world, I imagine the hawk would have been much flatter when he peeled it off his shield.  
>Hearing the fighting die out, the soldiers returned to help us mop up the last of the Heartless, before spreading the word of what had happened. We kept out the way after that to take a break from all the excitement, but it wasn't long before we were back up before the palace gates, this time with the Captain and the Emperor also present, and a crowd gathered below.<br>Donald and Goofy stood to attention just as they had for Yen Sid, as did Mulan. I've never held with doing that myself, so settled for one of Sora's usual poses – arms crossed with a satisfied grin. I did, on the other hand, give the Emperor a respectful bow. Like I've said before, I know the formalities at times like this and respect them where I can.  
>I'd already decided I was going to keep out of this as much as possible, more so than Sora did at least. The Emperor had other ideas though.<br>"I've heard a great deal about all of you," he began. "You especially, Fa Mulan." Mulan gave him a bow too now. "You stole your father's armour, ran away from home, impersonated an Imperial solder, deceived your commanding offer, shamed the entire army and dishonoured your family name... let alone consorting with one who has powers best left alone," he added with a nod toward me. "You are a young woman, and in the end... you have saved us all." Now he bowed, with considerably more grace than I'd expected, to Mulan. "We are in your debt, Fa Mulan. Captain Li?"  
>The Captain moved forward now, Shan-Yu's sword laying across his palms.<br>"Take this," he told her. "So the world will know what you've done for us all."  
>"Thank you," she replied, understandably awed.<br>"No – thank you. All of you. Without you, this would not have come to pass. You especially, Sora," he added. "I did not understand why you failed to warn us at first, but now I believe I do. This had to happen the way you foresaw it."  
>"The power of foresight is quite powerful," the Emperor noted. "But it takes a truly wise man to know when to act and when not to act upon it. May you continue to show wisdom in the future, Sora."<br>If only I always had. Not all my choices could be considered wise.  
>"Mulan," the Captain said then. With a moment's hesitation he also said, "Thank you."<br>"Thank you?" the Emperor asked with a chuckle. "Is that all you have to say, Captain? If you truly wish to win the heart of Fa Mulan, China's bravest woman, you will need to be a bit more eloquent than that!"  
>"Thanks Sora," Mulan murmured to me. "I couldn't have done it without you."<br>"Oh, I suspect you could have," I answered offhand. "I just nudged things along a little."  
>"They gotta let me go back to being a guardian now," Mushu was complaining to himself.<br>"I thought you already were a family guardian?" Goofy asked him.  
>"What? Oh, no – don't even worry about that, that's just for us guardians to worry about!"<br>"You shouldn't lie, Mushu," I told him, not looking over. I was watching Shan-Yu's sword. "Even if you did think it was for the best not to bother anyone."  
>The Captain apparently noticed my glance to the sword.<br>"Something wrong with it, Sora?" he asked.  
>"No. I'm just waiting for something to happen."<br>"What?"  
>"That," I told them, as the sword rose up of its own accord, allowing me to open the gateway from this world. When it had cleared and the sword had settled back down into Mulan's hands, I went on, "Time for us to be moving on."<br>"You shall be missed," the Emperor told us. "But you will always be welcome here."  
>"We'll look forward to seeing you again," the Captain added.<br>"Play nice now," I told him and Mulan.  
>"Watch it, soldier," he teased. Mulan gave me the chain for the Hidden Dragon Keyblade, which replaced the Kingdom Key in my off hand. It gave a bit of a boost to my magic and would let it restore a bit quicker, a good thing since I was calling on it much more often this time around.<br>Then it was time to leave, so we politely excused ourselves and returned to where we'd arrived. I could have gone back to the Gummi Ship there and then, but it was probably best not to do it where there were other people around. It might have raised awkward questions.

With the Land of Dragons cleared for now, I was once again faced with two paths. Go through Stardust Sweep to reach the Beast's Castle, or the Phantom Storm to return to Olympus Coliseum. I was looking forward to both, but in my best habits of clearing one area before moving on, Beast's Castle came before Olympus Coliseum, as it would also unlock the way to the Coliseum.  
>Does that make any sense to you? My reasoning sometimes escapes even me, so maybe it doesn't make sense. Or maybe I'm just too set in my ways, so I just follow the same route every time.<br>Regardless, the Stardust Sweep provided me with another opportunity to get used to piloting and fighting at the same time.  
>Once we'd cleared it, I left the Gummi Ship on a course to the Beast's Castle, and decided it was about time I pulled out the book and checked up on Sora. This would be the first time I'd done so since before Castle Oblivion, and I fully expected it to be filled with all kinds of comments on my actions, even if I had no idea what had happened in that Castle.<br>Instead though, it seemed as if it had been erased of everything that had been written in it before, and in place of those entries were a series of what are best described as journal entries. It seemed that knowing I wouldn't be able to check up on it for some time, Sora had decided to use it to let me catch up with what he'd been up to in my life during my sleep, fill me in on any interesting world news – though his definition of 'interesting' and mine are worlds apart when it comes to the news of our world, believe me.  
>I discovered the suspended work the boss had called was over with, and that I'd missed out on two of the trips to the Channel Islands – we go once every six months and stay for about two weeks because there's so many jobs there. Good for earning money, but a lot of work to do without much time to take a break. Sora complained about that, along with a few comments about the various places there. I won't bore you with the details.<br>There were a few entries that were written between both him and my boyfriend, and some that my boyfriend had written alone. I could tell he was missing my company just by reading them, and as before I was left feeling guilty over it. Once I got out of this, I was going to have to make up for the time I'd spent here.  
>There wasn't enough time to fully catch up with everything I'd missed before we arrived, so I reluctantly put the book away again. The Beast's Castle was waiting for us.<p> 


	31. Another Early End

Okay, review answering time again. Like last time, if you just want to hear what I did, skip ahead a ways.  
>Xion... at the moment, I know very little about what happened to... him, I guess. Since Naminé did tell me he would take on my own appearance, it sort of suggests that, at least. That said, as you're reading this, I've yet to go against Xemnas in the Castle That Never Was, so there's still time I can use to find out. I won't say exactly where and how far through I am, not yet at least. Anyway that'll come later, if I find out anything.<br>Roxas? Yeah... I think it was my knowing about him that makes him more active for me. Gotta love how I get to borrow off him though, even Sora didn't get to do that. The Limit Break isn't easy to pull off though, and since it sort of needs a tight spot to work... only makes it harder, at least for me. Roxas says otherwise, but he's used to it.  
>The time difference... it's hard to say. I never actually asked. I'll pass it on to Sora and see what he says about it.<br>And lastly, no, I didn't miss the bit about Captain Li finding out Ping was Mulan. As I've done before, where things go with little to no changes worth noting, I condensed it down a bit – if you read back...  
>'I was too out of breath to give any warning to either her or the Captain, and so naturally when Mushu showed up complaining, he discovered the truth about her.'<br>See? I guess it's sort of easy to miss. I did kinda keep it to a few words about it.  
>Right. I think that's all. Onward ho, as they say...<p>

The Beast's Castle. I'm betting not many people know his actual name is Prince Adam, but that's not entirely relevant. Not yet, anyway.  
>Like Roxas on his first visit, we disembarked the Gummi Ship to the massive stone bridge that leads to the main gates. What you probably don't see are the remains of the Infernal Engine that Roxas defeats there. Why there are parts of it left behind, instead of vanishing when Roxas released the Hearts contained within, I don't know.<br>Makes for some interesting conversation points though. Took me a few moments to remind Donald who Roxas was, which annoyed my Nobody. Apparently he doesn't take kindly to being forgotten, even by people he never actually met.  
>I had to use the Keyblade to unlock the gates so we could pass through into the courtyard. There's a little discrepancy here, by the way – when Roxas comes here, there are six statues, but when Sora and I stopped by, there are only four.<br>As we headed toward the castle's doors, Donald looked up at the castle and said, "I wonder who lives here?"  
>I didn't answer him at that point, continuing on. I was more distracted trying to remember what would happen on this visit.<br>When we got inside the entrance hall, Goofy added, "Looks kinda gloomy, don't ya think?"  
>Then there was a roar that echoed through the castle.<br>"That answer your question, Donald?" I said then.  
>"Beast! Maybe we should-"<br>"Not yet," I cut him off. "Something has to happen first, and that Shadow there has something to do with it."  
>We followed the Shadow into the room, where the glowing rose of Beast's curse lay on a table. I caught Donald reaching for it, pulling his hand lightly away, shaking my head.<br>"But-"  
>"It's not yours, Donald. Leave it alone. We've got company, anyway."<br>More Shadows. Predictably, they just kept on coming and coming. While they're not hard to defeat, with enough of them anyone would have to give in sooner or later._  
>Get out the way, Liam,<em> Roxas told me. There was a kind of shoving feeling, then in his own voice spoke through me. "Clear off!" he told the Heartless. They stopped, one pausing in mid-jump. "You heard me," Roxas went on. "Get outta here."  
>And they did.<br>"Did you just..." Donald started, amazed.  
>"No. I did," Roxas said. "Don't expect me to do that too often though. You can have your voice back now, Sora," he added.<br>"Was that Roxas?" Goofy asked. I just nodded. I hadn't suspected he'd be able to do anything like that. Maybe we could turn it to our advantage?_  
>Only if you find my Samurais again,<em> he told me in response to that thought. _Heartless are too much trouble unless they're just small fries._  
>"Stand back," I murmured, hearing a familiar stomping. A few more Shadows appeared in the room, but appeared to ignore us, heading first for the rose, then turning about to go after Beast as he entered. They were negligently knocked aside as he went for the rose. It was picked up, then he left without a word.<br>"What was that about?"  
>"Something's up," I answered. "We need to find Belle. She can tell us what's going on. East wing, if I remember right."<em><br>Xaldin's here,_ Roxas told me. _I can smell him. Be careful, Liam._  
>Like I needed to be told. Xaldin wasn't going to be any trouble this time round, it was on the second visit he'd make a pest of himself. Or so I thought.<br>Predictably, the Heartless did not make it easy to get to Belle's room. They didn't mass in the same numbers that the Shadows had though, and so weren't too much trouble. The little Bad Dog Heartless aren't normally a problem unless they gang up on you, and the same goes for Icy Cubes. At least they're easily handled with a few Fire spells; once the Bad Dogs get around you, you're going to need a hand from someone else.  
>As we opened the door to Belle's room, she appeared oblivious to our entry. She also appeared to have set aside the dress she'd had in Hollow Bastion, but that had been over a year ago now.<br>"What am I going to do?" she wondered aloud to herself.  
>"How about ask me to lend a hand?" I offered.<br>"Sora! And Goofy and Donald too!" Donald got picked up and hugged, protesting about it the whole time.  
>"How's Beast?" I asked afterwards, already knowing the answer.<br>"I don't know. He's over in the west wing. We don't really... talk any more."  
>"What happened?"<br>He's been acting strange again. He locked the servants up in the dungeon. I'd help them, but..."  
>"The Heartless. Leave it to us."<br>"I know I can count on you, Sora." I started to leave, but she called me back, saying, "What was in that room, Sora?"  
>"What room was that?"<br>"The one in Hollow Bastion that even you couldn't see what was behind. The one you thought was Ansem."  
>"His name is Xemnas... he was just there to test me. I guess in preparation for our next meeting. Don't worry about him, Belle – I'll deal with him too."<br>Or at least I hoped I would. The prospect of the several round battle with Xemnas bothered me even more than the final battle with Ansem had.  
>Grand Ghosts showed up again along the way to the West wing, though once I'd identified them as the same pests that had shown up in Monstro, even they didn't last long. I'm pretty sure they weren't meant to show up there though.<br>I didn't push the Wardrobe aside. Instead, I cheated again and woke it up to explain the situation. She was happy to move aside, leaving Donald and Goofy baffled at her remark about a clock in the dungeon.  
>"What'd she mean, Sora?" Goofy asked.<br>"The Beast was a human prince," I explained. "Except something happened, and he and the servants got changed. He became the Beast, and the servants became ornaments and furniture. Be ready soon, by the way."  
>"Another mass of Heartless?" Donald asked.<br>"No. At least not if I remember correctly. Just those doors there."  
>We looked to the doors, which appeared to be perfectly normal. Donald even pulled one part way open without a problem.<br>"The doors. What about them, huh? They're just stone!" He gave the open door a kick, making it snap back closed again. Then the carved knights on the door came alive to become the Thresholder. "Me and my big mouth," Donald muttered.  
>The Thresholder is not as difficult as it first appears. As had become my habit, I ignored the other Heartless that showed up, leaving them for the others to handle while I battered away at the Thresholder itself.<br>Now, normally, you've got to get its health down low before you can unlock the keyhole and force the Possessor out of the keyhole, but as usual I wasn't going to play by the rules. I figure the Keyblades are still Keys themselves, so stuck Star Seeker into the lock and twisted. The door quickly evicted its tenant, forcing the oddly defenceless Possessor to come out and play. Periodic bursts of Aero magic force it away from the door, and from there the fight was short-lived.  
>As I'd already explained to the others that the servants had become ornaments, they weren't as surprised to see them when we released them. Like most, they seemed a little bothered by me until they understood.<br>We took the shortcut to the secret passage – which if you look at the maps, does not actually match up with the doors leading into it – then we were faced with the lanterns lit with darkness.  
>I don't remember how to re-light the lanterns though, so I told them I'd been focused on other things to explain it. Once Cogsworth explained it for me, I decided to cheat again. Goofy held on to the crank with him, while Donald carried Lumiere, and I picked up Chip and Mrs. Potts so we wouldn't have to wait. All it took then was one call to Goofy to bring Cogsworth with us, and we exited into the west wing. All of them but Cogsworth went off to check on the castle, after I warned them to be careful of the Heartless.<br>"Keep quiet," I murmured as we headed up toward the door to Beast's room. "I want to hear this."  
>"Hear what?" Donald asked, but after a meaningful glance from me let it drop.<em><br>In there,_ Roxas said shortly. I don't know why, it wasn't like anyone else could hear him.  
>Xaldin's voice doesn't suit him, I've often thought. Before I actually played through any Kingdom Hearts II game, I used to imagine him sounding a bit more like Lexaeus does in Castle Oblivion whenever he showed up in Days.<br>"It's time you dealt with Belle," he was telling Beast in what sounded to me more like a harsh rasp. "She's scheming to take everything you have – the Castle, the rose, and then your life. Trust no one," he added after a pause, which seemed a bit stupid to me. If Beast trusted no one, he'd certainly include Xaldin and everything he said, which would seem to be against the entire reason he's here.  
>"Not yet," I told Cogsworth quietly, lightly holding him back.<br>"Feed your anger," Xaldin went on. "Only anger will keep you strong."  
>"I've had enough of strength," Beast growled wearily. "There's only one thing I want."<br>"What? To love and be loved in return? Who could ever love a beast?" he inquired derisively.  
>"No weapons," I warned, then stepped into the room and said, "Belle does. No amount of deception will change that, Xaldin."<br>"So, Roxas, you still know nothing of those with Hearts..."  
>"Don't call me Roxas. I'm not my Nobody, and he knows more than you give him credit for – not that you ever did before he did the right thing and turned on you."<br>"What do you know of his betrayal, Sora? Were you there? No, I think not."  
>I'd been watching Beast in case he suddenly attacked, but now I looked Xaldin in the eye as I answered, "I don't need to have been there to know what happened. I know what the Organization is trying to do, and I know you're going to fail."<br>"And this would be the point where you offer to leave us unharmed if we'll just give up."  
>"No. I'm not stupid enough to be your typical clichéd hero. You're just a bunch of misguided Nobodies, following a fool that was apprenticed to a fool. Xemnas has no intentions of sharing Kingdom Hearts with any of you, but you're too blinded by getting your own Hearts to see it. Telling you to give up would do no good, so it falls to me to destroy each and every one of you."<br>This was partly good, and partly not so good. It was good, because Beast appeared to come to his senses. The bad came when Xaldin's lances appeared, one of them thrown at me, narrowly missing my head. Beast turned on him with a mighty roar at that point, essentially forcing a fight between us and Xaldin. I hadn't exactly intended to cause one this early, but from a tactical standpoint it was beneficial. The battle with Xaldin you get is far more difficult because he has time to prepare for it, this one was a spur of the moment thing caused by my goading him and Beast's unexpected attack.  
>Dragoon Nobodies appeared around the room, but another furious roar from Beast destroyed the lot of them, between the four of us we turned on the hapless Nobody. His spears were brushed aside by Keyblade, staff, shield and claw in turn until he had none left to defend himself with. Needless to say, he didn't last long.<br>"Impossible," he breathed as the darkness reclaimed him, and that was all he said before he vanished.  
>I already knew this was not a change I should have made. But surely if he wasn't going to show up again, the second visit here would be superfluous? I decided I was going to check in anyway – just in case.<p> 


	32. Two Blue Nobodies

With Xaldin out of action early, I thought we might get out of the fight in the ballroom with the Shadow Stalker, and its second form in the Dark Thorn. It was summoned originally by Xaldin, so I assumed it would be safe.  
>Once we'd calmed Beast and explained the situation, he decided it was worth apologising to Belle. I got him to pause at the ballroom so I could check, but it was deserted – not even a Heartless in sight.<br>Belle's room was conspicuously empty too, except for the Wardrobe.  
>"Did Belle find you?" she asked as we came in.<br>Beast looked puzzled. "No... why?"  
>"She said she had to tell you about a man in black. Frightfully rude fellow."<br>"Xaldin," I said. "He's gone. We destroyed him not too long ago."  
>"Blue hair?" the Wardrobe asked.<br>"That's not... Saïx? But what is Saïx doing here..." I wondered.  
>Roxas saved me the trouble of trying to figure this out. <em>Liam! Get to the ballroom! Belle's in trouble!<em>  
>I passed this on to everyone else, not needing to explain. They just assumed I'd found out what was going to happen, but the truth was I had no idea. I didn't even know how Roxas had found out.<br>Once more, the ballroom was empty when we got there, but this time we didn't just glance in, we all went in. We could see Belle hiding on the balcony outside, but only for a moment – then the Shadow Stalker possessed the room, turning the windows a dark purple.  
>This fight is not as easy as you think it is. It doesn't come out unless forced to, and that means it can go from say the windows to the floor, with no sign to us of what it was doing. To make matters worse, trying to hide behind the pillars was no sanctuary as it simply possessed them and lashed out with them. This was one tough Heartless, take it from me!<br>It was Donald who found a way to identify where it was hiding. Thunder magic directed at the various parts of the room would cause a reaction if the Shadow Stalker was possessing it, allowing us to go after it. Unfortunately for us, the only real times we managed to get to it was when it was in the pillars or the chandelier – and neither was exactly favourable.  
>While in the pillars, we took a risk just getting near to them. The pillars uprooted themselves and stomped down on us, or swiped at us, sending us flying. Goofy was downed by one such attack, and the rest of us were concentrating on not going the same way. The attack gave me the chance to strike out at that pillar, forcing it out for Beast to land massive damage on. He might be slow and prone to outbursts, but no one can match him for raw power.<br>The chandelier was by far the most dangerous for any of us. Knowing that it that thing dropped on me it was going to hurt a great deal, I avoided being underneath it as much as possible. The others ignored the dangers presented by this until the moment the Shadow Stalker made it drop. Beast made a leap beneath it, then caught it, holding it off the ground so the rest of us would be safe, whether we were underneath it or not.  
>I took this chance to grab hold of the edge and pull myself up, evicting the Heartless from the room and bringing it out to play.<br>The Shadow Stalker when not possessing anything is extremely similar to the Darkball Heartless, but much more powerful, far more erratic, and definitely on the dangerous side. I took the opportunity to deal out as much pain as I could for it, while it in turn went diving for each of us. I failed to avoid this when it homed in on me, sending me into one pillar, but not dealing enough damage that I couldn't use my own magic to cure myself. I was a bit put out when I realised that the Curaga I'd had before was back at a low Cure again, and even more so when I found that it now used all my available mana, unlike the original Cure spell, but either way it did the job and allowed me to get back to the battle just in time to see it re-possess the room again. That gave me the chance to throw a handful of potions to my friends before we began over again.  
>Two more rounds of this, and the Shadow Stalker started to run out of health, prompting its transformation into the Dark Thorn. As the main annoyance of this battle is the ability to turn invisible, it's much more straightforward than the previous fight.<br>While invisible though, it becomes much quicker. Beast could keep up with it by making bounding leaps, but this left him open to attack. A better use of that strength turned the battle in our favour, having him throw me upwards to catch the chandelier. Already unstable from the prior fight, it dropped down at just the extra weight from me. Beast warned the others behind the pillars, then gave the chandelier a smash to send it swinging around the room.  
>This not only forced the Dark Thorn to become visible, it dealt considerable damage – no doubt made worse by my scrambling around the chandelier to make my own attacks where I could, then when Beast stopped it, I used the remaining momentum to launch myself at the Dark Thorn.<br>I would have brought Valour form into the fight, but it seemed somewhat unnecessary as I drove it back. When it fell, we saw Belle looking on from the outside.  
>"Are you safe?" I asked, letting her in again.<br>"I'm fine. Thank you Sora."  
>"It was nothing," I replied depreciatingly.<br>"So you think," Saïx's voice told us. Where normally Xaldin stood, he was instead.  
>"What're you doing here?"<br>"You really think it unusual? With our numbers thinned, can you really expect me to stand back and watch? Surely you must have known this was going to happen..."  
>"I... had my mind on other things."<br>"Clearly. We will meet again, Sora. Continue to aid us. We appreciate every last one you give us." Then he disappeared into a dark corridor.  
>"What did he mean by that?" Donald asked.<br>"Hearts. Every time we liberate one, it goes to them."  
>"But that means-"<br>"We're helping them. But there's nothing we can do about it – without the Keyblades, we don't stand a chance. No way to stop it from happening, so might as well just ignore the problem. Beast – we're going to have to leave. There are other worlds where the Organization is up to no good. But we'll stop by again."  
>"You are always welcome here," he told me.<br>"I know. Do me a favour though? Next time I stop by, no matter what's going on... understand I'm there for a good reason."  
>He nodded, then though his rose was not near us, I knew it was time to unlock the next pathway. Olympus Coliseum beckoned – along with the effects of what I'd sown on my original visit. Remember what I said to Hades when he gave me the pass for the games?<br>Right before we left, Belle handed me an envelope she told me she'd been given by a someone who sounded suspiciously like the real Sora. Inside was a short note explaining it was from him, and once more I wasn't to enter any of the Cup tournaments at the Coliseum unless it was part of the plot. With it was a new chain for the Keyblade which resembled one of the trophy cups from them. Hidden Dragon in my off-hand was replaced with the Keyblade it brought out – Fatal Crest.  
>One of the best ones for magic users, but not so good for combos – for you. In my case, Sora's note also told me he'd made a few alterations. I'd have an unlimited combo chain for as long as my magic was recharging, but once it hit full power I'd unleash a devastating combo, made all the more powerful for the length of the chain. A bit like the Decisive Pumpkin Keyblade, but this one also recharged my magic far quicker. Plus I could still make finishing moves with the other Keyblade, which was still Star Seeker.<p>

As Sora had already told me much earlier on that he didn't want me to do anything in Hundred Acre Woods, Merlin did not summon us to give us Winnie the Pooh's book, and therefore it wasn't stolen. This meant that I was probably going to miss getting the Sweet Memories Keyblade, but that couldn't be helped I guess. So with only one possible route to take, we headed for the Phantom Storm.  
>This was my first real challenge while flying the Gummi Ship. As most of the route involves defeating the Heartless Pirate Ship before reaching the unlocked keyhole to Olympus Coliseum, I decided to simplify matters somewhat and not bother making progress through the route until it was down. This worked to a point, but still left the problem of the Pirate Ship itself. My aim improved considerably during that encounter, but on the other hand we took more damage than I thought. Thankfully we made it through without taking enough to force us to try again, and once we'd cleared the keyhole we had some time before we reached the Coliseum. I warned the others in advance that we wouldn't exit directly into the Coliseum, then set about continuing to read the book and find out what had happened. There wasn't really anything worth mentioning here, but even then I hadn't fully caught up when we arrived. A brief flick through the pages suggested that another two trips like this, and I'd finally be up to date.<br>The Underworld... also known as Erebus or Tartarus if you go deep enough. Yep, like I said last time I was here, I know these pointless facts from Greek mythology.  
>As usual, we got to see Megara fleeing from a pack of Rabid Dog Heartless. Unlike usual, we didn't have to stand there and watch it happen – I sent several carefully aimed Blizzard spells heading their way to freeze them in place, not just allowing her to get clear, but Donald to finish them off. I'll bet frozen enemies don't explode when you use Gravity on them. Unexpected, but one of the funnier ways to watch Heartless go. He made use of that little trick quite often after then.<br>Once the introductions were dealt with, it was time to head down into the Cave of the Dead to meet Hades, let alone possibly the laziest member of the Organization ever.  
>"I feel funny," Goofy remarked as we headed in.<br>"Don't worry about it," I told him.  
>"It's not just him, Sora," Donald insisted.<br>"It'll pass when we get hold of the Olympus Stone. But there's other things that have to happen first, so stop worrying over it will you?"  
>"Did someone mention the Olympus Stone?" someone asked.<em><br>Demyx?_ I heard Roxas wonder. Leaning against the wall behind us was, yes, Demyx, in one hand tossing the small gold coin that was the Olympus Stone.  
>"That's... you stole that!" I accused.<br>"Hey! That's not very nice!" he protested. "I mean, how do you know I didn't find it? Or take it from the real thief?"  
>"Oh, give it a rest, Demyx. At least try to come up with a convincing excuse."<br>"You could at least give me a chance. Anyway, how's this? I give you the stone. And you work for us!" he suggested brightly._  
>Did he really just suggest that?<em>  
>"Demyx," I said then. "Why would I work for the Organization, when I'm dedicated to stopping it?"<br>"Give me some credit, I had to try, right? Thought you might do it for this, but if you're not interested..."  
>You know those skateboards scattered around for no apparent reason? Well, he nicked the one just lying around there and headed downstream toward the Inner Chamber, leaving us to run after him, defeating Heartless along the way.<p> 


	33. Return of the Schemer

I like the Underworld. Probably because of the battle theme you hear, and if you remember way back earlier on, I got Sora to make it so I'd hear the relevant music as I went along. Just doesn't seem right to me, going through all those worlds without it there. On the other hand, I did have to try not to hum along, since the others couldn't hear it.  
>Anyway, even though the Underworld prevents the use of Drive Forms until you get the Olympus Stone off Demyx, the local Heartless aren't really much of a challenge. That said, most Heartless aren't, it's the bosses you've got to worry about.<br>There wasn't really anything to mention on the way down, though I did stop by the moogle store when I got down to the inner chamber. More to turn over the various synthesis materials I'd been gathering really. I know, I don't mention these things. But if I sat around telling you all those kind of details, we'd never get anywhere.  
>Predictably, as we made to continue onwards, Demyx came skating back out, pushing past us with his usual line of, "Run! Run away!" I can only assume he was trying to talk to Hades, though what about is anyone's guess.<br>Once through the cavern that doesn't seem to have any bottom to it – I kept away from the edges, not because I don't like heights, but because I don't like falling – I told everyone else to keep quiet and not make a sound when we entered his chamber, keeping just out of sight as I listened in.  
>"Why don't ya just pick somebody already dead, and save him the trouble?" Pete suggested. Did he actually have a good idea?<br>"Dead..." Hades mused. "Dead is good! And I know just the warrior..."  
>"By the by... what's down there?"<br>Hades gave a short laugh, "Oh, just the Underworld's deepest dungeon. This time, I'm bringing out the mother of all bad guys!"  
>"You don't say. Well... maybe I should go." Pete backed around the corner and into me. He froze for a moment, then turned to see me.<br>"Hi Pete," I grinned. "Whatcha doing?"  
>Pete ran past me and back up into the upper part of the Underworld. Sometimes I wonder about Pete. His backbone seems to appear and disappear with no notice at all.<br>Now I headed into the chamber, the others in tow. Auron had already appeared.  
>"Let's cut to the chase. Here's the deal I'm gonna offer you. I let you out of the slammer, no strings, free as a bird." As Hades said it, Auron glanced over to us. I gave him a wink. "All for one little job. Fight Hercules, in the Coliseum, to the death!"<br>"Aren't you forgetting something else, Hades?" I said.  
>He actually had to think about it, then said, "Oh, and some kid named Sora sends his regards."<br>"That's me. Took you long enough to remember, huh? It's only been what, a year?"  
>Hades appeared to notice us for the first time, despite the different appearance recognising me instantly. "You again! You knew this was going to happen!"<br>"Naturally. I did tell you my predictions are always accurate, didn't I? Why don't you come with us, Auron? Hades' deal isn't worth the words he gives you."  
>"Sounds interesting," Auron remarked. "I'm with you."<br>"You can't do that!" Hades burst out, getting in the way. "You work for me!"  
>"This is <em>my<em> story. And you're not part of it."  
>"Did you forget who you're talking to! I am the Lord of the Dead!"<br>I love Auron's reply to that.  
>"No wonder no one wants to die."<br>Hades fired him, not that he was even working for him in the first place, then attacked. Auron knocked him back without much effort, prompting both Donald and Goofy to attack Hades, only to find they had no effect at all.  
>"Sora, what's going on here?" they both demanded.<br>"We can't fight him here," I answered. "Come on, Auron. We've gotta get out."  
>The doors at the head of the stairs down to Hades' chamber were closed fairly easily, though I guess given what happened next it didn't really matter.<br>"Is he gone?" Donald asked.  
>"Don't count on it," Auron and I replied at the same time.<br>"How..." he began.  
>"Long story. Hello again Hades," I added as he appeared beside me to deliver one of my many favourite lines. This time because of the way he says it. I'm easily amused, alright?<br>"Leaving so soon?"  
>Even though I couldn't actually hurt him as such, I did something that was probably the most reckless act ever, and punched him. It distracted him long enough for us to start running again, at least.<br>Getting back out again was not so easy. Not because of the Heartless, but because of Hades making a pest of himself. I developed a healthy dislike for the Lance Soldiers, which despite the Soldier not getting on with the Lance, with enough numbers managed to really irritate me. And we know what I get like when I'm irritated. At least this time, once I exhausted my supply of magic I didn't go for the staff to keep it up.  
>Hades broke off when we got back to the place where the moogle store is, giving us a break.<br>"You're not half bad," Auron told me.  
>"You're pretty good yourself, you know. I know if I ask though, you'll tell me you're not a hero."<br>Auron looked at me speculatively.  
>"It's a gift he has," Donald explained wearily. "He can tell what'll happen next."<br>"It's not as foolproof as I told Hades," I conceded. "Sometimes things don't happen the way I expect. Like that there," I said, gesturing to the one item in the room that I have never otherwise seen there. It looked a bit like a dark corridor, but spherical, hovering off the ground with a book in it.  
>I recognised it though – Zexion's Absent Silhouette. One of the few Organization Members I'd never fight otherwise. I knew why it was here – I'd already guessed that since I'd gone through the Final Mix of the first game, and what I suspect was Re:Chain of Memories, that this would also be the Final Mix version I was in, and I know just a bit more about this one than I do the others.<br>These battles work slightly differently for me than they do for you, I suspect mostly because of Roxas. For a start, when I came into contact with Zexion's Absent Silhouette, only I was transported to the facsimile of Destiny Islands as it is when Riku encounters him in Castle Oblivion.  
>I was not alone however, as Roxas appeared separately beside me, wearing the coat as if he'd never left. We each had a Keyblade in one hand when we appeared, I assume because he and I can only pick up two if we're together. I held Star Seeker, while Roxas had taken up Fatal Crest – the Keyblade I had set for my off hand.<br>"Well you didn't think I was going to let you take him on alone, did you?" Roxas answered my curious glance.  
>Then Zexion appeared not far away from us, looking for all the world as if he'd never been defeated.<br>"Sora," he greeted me with a brief incline of his head. "Or should I call you Liam?"  
>"You mean it makes a difference?" I answered rhetorically.<br>"No. But I see no reason to be impolite."  
>"Of course not," Roxas muttered. "Just condescending."<br>"Perhaps. I had not expected to see you here, Roxas."  
>"Let's just say I'm getting my own back on a bunch of people I should have known better than to trust."<br>"I had little to do with you directly," Zexion replied, unconcerned. "There's no need to label me as you have the others."  
>"Oh no? You stand there, wearing the same coat as everyone else, just like you did before, just like you did when you went on your missions, and tell me you're not the same as them?"<br>"The same could be said of you," he pointed out. I kept out of this. Roxas seemed to hold a grudge against Zexion, but as far as I knew there was no reason for it. I know of only one mission Zexion ever accompanied Roxas, and that was during the time he was still learning – meaning this was a sign that Roxas's life had not turned out exactly as expected.  
>Roxas concentrated for a moment, then his appearance changed to the one he takes while in the simulated Twilight Town.<br>"I gave up a real form," he shrugged when both Zexion and I watched with interest. "Means I can break a few of the rules in these places – like showing up, or looking like this."  
>"Are you done showing off now?" I asked him. "Or should I go somewhere else until you two are ready to get on with this?"<br>"Oh, are we keeping you waiting?" Roxas asked innocently. "Why don't we get on with it then?"  
>I like Roxas as my own Nobody. He often seems like he's got a bit of me in him somewhere, but then he is my Nobody.<br>Zexion didn't bother with any further words, instead starting to attack – if it could be called that. His Book of Retribution split into several copies, each of which projected the Nobody symbol onto the ground, then he appeared to become a copy himself. Neither Roxas or I were fooled though, keeping one eye on him, and the other on the symbols projected on the ground – I had no idea what would happen if one caught me, but the chances were it wouldn't be good.  
>Zexion's good at deception though, and the book we struck down did not contain him. We were going to have to deal with all of them to find this elusive Nobody, so we worked together, avoiding the symbols, using each other as distractions so one of us could get behind that book and destroy it before it could do whatever it was designed to.<br>I was the first to find out what happened when those symbols caught us, my view changing to a different area of the islands without Roxas, and with a lot more copies of the book. They bombarded me, sending off various spells before they got close enough, then just diving down hit me afterwards. I couldn't avoid them all, but it didn't take much to destroy each of them. While this was going on, the entire place periodically shook violently, making it difficult to keep my footing and fend off the books.  
>The attack of the books broke off when I hit one that had Zexion in, forcing him to show up as himself instead of a book. I got in some good, long combos on him before I dealt out enough to return us to the 'real' area where the remaining books were. Roxas was not around, though one of the copies that were left was not projecting a symbol, but a view of an area where Roxas was going through the same thing I had just gone through.<br>I dodged the other books, stepping into that projection to come to Roxas's aid and between us we repeated my original efforts to force Zexion to reveal himself. With Fatal Crest, there was no limit to the combos Roxas could lay down on him, but it lacked a finishing move that would send us back again, and so I had to bring it to an end myself.  
>There were a few less copies of the Book of Retribution around now, and we managed to knock them all out without getting caught again, leaving only one. Now Zexion started to take a more personal role in his battle, casting various spells himself. Many of them are not the same spells I could cast, being based in the same illusions and phantasm magic that he represents, but his skill with such illusions made even the illusion of a flood effective enough to drench us both, washing us away from him. I had a trick up my sleeve for this, orienting on Zexion, then closing my eyes and heading forward. The tide of water did not stop me, nor did it soak me any more. Illusions are only there if you can see them, after all.<br>Roxas picked up on this not long afterwards, and we both caught up with the surprised Zexion to finish him off. Interestingly, unlike Xaldin and Xigbar, who had seemed surprised at their untimely demise, Zexion seemed more satisfied as he faded out of existance, leaving only the Book of Retribution behind for Roxas to retrieve.  
>"Leave this with me," he told me. "I think I can make use of this."<br>"How do you plan to do that?"  
>"I haven't figured it out yet. I'll make it up as I go along. Isn't that what you do all the time?"<br>"Well... yeah, but normally I know what I'm aiming for."  
>"So do I – making it work for us. Who knows, maybe I'll even get it so you can nick a bit of Zexion's power too."<br>"That could turn be... interesting. Thanks for your help."  
>"Hey, what else am I here for, huh? Time to go back, I think," he added as the facsimile of the islands began to fade. "Oh well. Guess it's back to being stuck with you."<br>"Stuck with – hey, what's that meant to mean?"  
>There wasn't any chance to reply though, as I returned back to the Underworld, with Donald, Goofy and Auron stood nearby. My hand was still outstretched to where the Absent Silhouette had been, but the Absent Silhouette itself was gone.<br>"So was that Roxas?" Goofy asked me.  
>"Yeah... did you... see what happened?"<br>"Sure did. Couldn't hear a thing though."  
>That was some relief. I was hoping Donald had forgotten the suspicions he'd gained back in Halloween Town about my not being Sora, and didn't want to go through that again. Maybe sometime I'll tell them... but this wasn't going to be that time.<p> 


	34. A Nobody Saved

Naturally, the doors out of the Underworld were locked. It doesn't take a genius to think of using a Keyblade on them to open them. It also doesn't take a genius to recognise the pounding steps or the barking of Cerberus. Stupid or not, I could see it not only recognised me, but held a grudge against me.  
>Unlike Sora, I did not turn to leave when I heard this, and stayed alongside Auron, which in turn prompted Donald and Goofy to stay too. This time, I'd not only have help through all of this fight, but unlike the last time I'd faced this mutt, Donald had a full reserve of magic to throw at him.<br>Do I really need to tell you the outcome? Lets just say he sank down the ground afterwards, made a few attempts to bite me, then gave up.  
>Meg and Hercules were in discussion just outside the Coliseum itself, but despite his weakened condition, he still returned to the Coliseum to fight.<br>"Don't worry," I murmured to Meg in passing. "I'll have a word with him."  
>Hercules did not look any better close up, though some of that faded to be replaced with his usual cheer.<br>"Sora! Donald! Goofy! When'd you get here?"  
>"Oh, not long ago," I replied offhand. "You're working yourself too hard, Hercules."<br>"I should have known I couldn't keep it from you. I can't just stop though. They've come to see a Hero."  
>"But not an exhausted Hero that can barely fight. Take a rest and save your strength. And while you're resting... you know the Olympus Stone has been stolen."<br>"What? No, I didn't! Who by?"  
>"Some guy in a black coat," Phil answered for me, joining us. "And a bunch of white things with him."<br>"Demyx and some Nobodies," I identified them. "If we get it back, would anyone mind if we borrowed it?"  
>"Sure thing. Well, I better get back to the Coliseum," he sighed.<br>"Not feeling up to scratch?" Hades asked him insincerely, appearing nearby. "Feeling under the weather?"  
>"Go away, Hades," I told him. "Or you'll regret it later."<br>He just shoved me aside. Tempting right there and then to hit him again, but I had a feeling I knew what was coming next.  
>"I just came to share some mildly interesting news... seems your dear Nutmeg has gone and gotten herself lost in the Underworld."<br>"You mean you kidnapped her," Hercules accused.  
>"Well, maybe," Hades replied, unconcerned. "But why get caught up in the details?" Then he disappeared.<br>"Don't go," I told him. "Hades is going to set a Hydra loose in the Coliseum. If you can keep it busy, we'll get her back and then come to your aid. I know just where to find her. Just send Pegasus after us; we'll send her back to safety on him."

The other part of the Underworld is a little easier to get lost in, but I'm fairly sure I found some way to solve that. Unfortunately I can't remember how, which is a bit of a pain.  
>We met Phil on the way back in, along with Auron who'd waited for us there. We hadn't noticed that he hadn't joined us in coming out, something I felt a little guilty for missing, but what else could I do? The two of them explained that Demyx had just been seen heading into the same part of the Underworld we were headed for. And this time, I was the one with an offer for him.<br>Demyx was indeed waiting for us not far inside, though this time he had the hood of his coat up.  
>"Give it up, Demyx," I sighed. "I already know it's you."<br>"You're no fun," he complained. "Honestly, you never even give me a chance."  
>"Oh yeah? How about this then? You know what I'm gonna do to you and all the other members if I get the chance, right?" He swallowed hard and nodded. "How'd you like to get out of that?"<br>"Sora, are you serious?" Donald asked me.  
>"Ya sure about this?" Goofy added.<em><br>Just give it to him straight,_ Roxas told me. _Otherwise you'll never get anywhere._  
>"What's the catch, huh?" Demyx demanded.<br>"Did I say there was a catch? All you gotta do is work for me. Just think about it, you could be the only survivor of the Organization, just by changing sides."  
>"That's the catch. They'd destroy me if they found me."<br>"Who am I, Demyx?" I sighed. "And just what have I done so far to your Organization? Do you really think I'd just let them?"  
>"Why're you offering me this? Why not one of the others?"<br>"Because I know they wouldn't take me up on it," I shrugged. "But if you're not interested... then we'll just have to skip ahead to fighting you for the Olympus Stone."  
>For someone without any feelings, Demyx actually does pull off a pretty good impression of them. He actually flinched back when I mentioned fighting, and seemed to take an unconscious step back when he caught the implications of that statement.<br>"You want this?" he asked, taking out the Olympus Stone. "You can have it. I don't want to fight. But I want something back for it!"  
>"Weren't you listening? I'm offering you a job working for me, and extending a little protection from any attempt the others make to be rid of you. Does that not sound like a bargain to you? One small stone... and you're free from the Organization, kept safe from them by us."<br>"Are you really sure you can trust him?" Auron murmured.  
>"Look, will you guys stop that!" I snapped, a little more harshly than I'd intended. "Would I be standing here making the offer in the first place if I didn't think it was worth it?"<br>Demyx looked to each of them, back to me, then tossed the Olympus Stone at me.  
>"Alright..." he agreed almost grudgingly. "But if anything happens to me because of this, it's your fault!"<br>"I know," I nodded. "Now, we're going to go find Megara."  
>"Find?" Donald asked. "I thought you said you knew where to look."<br>"Of course I do. I just haven't figured out the exact way there yet. We go this way... I think."  
>"Remind me never to let you read a map," he grumbled to himself. A sentiment I share, actually.<br>On the way down to the lock, I considered leaving the Underdrome sealed behind the lock and finding another way to release Megara, but short of having Demyx open a corridor down to her to retrieve her – harming the Hearts of anyone not protected against them in the process – there was no way. And with the effect the corridor would have on the rest of us, that was no option at all.  
>Hades thanked us for releasing the Underdrome, then I cut the chains off Megara in time for Pete to show up with the Heartless, and Pegasus to get her to safety.<br>Again, unlike Sora I didn't let the numbers of Pete's Heartless bother me. They might have had numbers, but they're not all that strong. Particularly not after I started to get the hang of fighting two separate battles at once, one with each Keyblade. Sometimes that handy little ability comes in very useful.  
>When Pete realized the tides were starting to turn against him, he fled again of course. I don't think he wanted to face me at all. With his departure though, the cave began to collapse, and we had to hurry back up and out to the Coliseum above to help Hercules finish off the Hydra. I'd hoped that in persuading him to remain there to handle it, I'd be able to save the Coliseum from being destroyed.<br>That was the theory, at least.

Now, some of you were wondering about how Roxas and Xion's lives got affected by me. Well, Sora and I did a little digging around so we could answer that. It's not terribly detailed yet, and we still have a lot of gaps to fill. Not to mention Roxas himself isn't telling us much, so we have to work without him.  
>As far as we can tell so far, Naminé was indeed right – Xion took on my real appearance when he finally showed his face. Roxas was the first one to see that, and the two quickly became close friends. A bit like Roxas and Axel, but with a bit more feeling to it.<br>Xion did not like Vexen or Zexion though, refusing to trust or even work with either of them, and his dislike of them carried over to Roxas, who apparently assumed that whatever had made Xion dislike them was enough for him to as well – hence the grudge mentioned when we went against Zexion's Absent Silhouette.  
>During the time Axel and I were at Castle Oblivion, the two found reason not to like almost every other member of the Organization except Demyx, and frequently ended up in trouble with Saïx. That was often because whenever they were both given solo missions, they'd do them together, one after the other instead of one on each at the same time, or sometimes they'd handle each other's missions.<br>They also got in trouble once directly with Xemnas for sneaking back to the castle after finishing early when they heard the news that everyone sent to Castle Oblivion had been eliminated so they could hold a small party between them, Demyx and Axel once he'd returned. Since they were the two that had organized it, they were the ones in trouble for it.  
>That's all we've got for now, but we're working on it.<br>Oh, and someone asked about the time difference between time passing for me and for Sora. It's not a set difference – it depends on the real book. Since it has to write down what happens to me from my perspective, sometimes it takes a little longer for it to get through something I'm doing, so I'm actually going slower than he is. Sometimes it's the other way around. Overall though, more time has passed for Sora than it has for me.


	35. Heading Off

When we returned to the Coliseum above, I realized I'd made a mistake. Hercules might have kept the Hydra's attention, but I'd overlooked his weakened state, and it had gone on a rampage to destroy the the Coliseum. Causing the exact same thing I'd tried to prevent. Have I mentioned I don't like it when I try to get out of these things, only to have them happen anyway?  
>Phil barely had a chance to tell me about it before I pushed past him and stared the ugly brute in the face. Believe me, the graphics on the games don't do it nearly enough justice. When you look at that thing the way I did, you start to get an idea of just how nasty some of these big buggers can be.<br>Meg and the Pegasus came down to join in, but I paid little attention, keeping my attention on the Hydra and trying to concentrate. On the twelve tasks of Hercules, specifically, so I could think how to defeat it. Cut of one head, and more sprout – unless you can cauterise the wound in time to prevent it. I didn't have anything to handle this, or at least I didn't think so. I'd have to do this the hard way.  
>Of course, the real problem is, I don't have any clue how much damage I deal out, or how much health these bosses have – all I can do is keep hacking away and hope I'm actually doing the right thing. Despite that, I didn't let it get the better of me, and started to attack the head. Donald naturally filled it with magic, and Goofy bashed away with his shield, which I maintain is still a highly ineffective weapon, but...<br>It didn't like any of this, and spat lightning, blue fire much like the one that burns on Hades' head, and dark orbs. The last of those were easily countered simply by Goofy or me batting them back, while Demyx made himself useful by extinguishing the fire. Clearly he was taking this changing sides thing seriously. I mentally reminded myself to have a word with the others so they wouldn't treat him so unkindly – he might still be a Nobody, but he was on our side now.  
>Goofy once again helped with the lightening, blocking it himself when it arced toward any of us, but especially Demyx, having picked up on the probably lightning weakness he had.<br>Meg managed to extract Hercules from under the rubble, who promptly told me to vanquish the head. At first I had no idea what he meant, until Roxas pointed out it just meant cutting the first head off, which I did so. It crashed to the ground nearby, faded away and left the stump of neck flailing around wildly until it stuck it into the ground, ostrich-style. Is it ostriches that do that or Flamingos? One of the two. Birds aren't something I'm knowledgeable about. Or noticing when I'm getting sidetracked – really must stop letting me do that, you know.  
>With the head in the ground, it wasn't immediately apparent what came next. As I've said before, when in the heat of battle, it's hard to think back to having played through the original fights and remember.<br>Phil solved this however, directing me to the Hydra's back, then he threw a giant pot in the air. I remembered this, scrambling up some of the ruins to get up above it, then smashing it down onto the Hydra's back. Now three more heads sprouted from part of the clear ground nearby.  
>Phil's co-op attack with the pots stunned each of the heads for a time, allowing us to focus on the remaining two. Goofy and Demyx focused on one of them, while Donald and I battered away at the other until we were down to two heads, then the four of us focus on each of the remaining two in turn. For all his complaints otherwise, Demyx isn't actually half bad in a fight when he gets down to it.<br>With these three heads down, the neck pulled itself out of the ground with not one head, but seven. This time it was Pegasus that gave the helping hand, allowing me to get on and ride him as he flew around the heads, keeping himself clear of them while I struck out on either side. Given that my previous equine riding experiences before then equate to absolutely nothing, I'm amazed I didn't fall off, since I was using only my legs to hold on. Both hands were busy fighting, not that I recall seeing anywhere safe to hold on with a free hand anyway.  
>When we landed again and I slid off his back, the Hydra was in a bad way. Obviously, there was no visible sign of everything that had been done, but the way the heads were swaying unsteadily and the eyes weren't focusing, it was clear we'd definitely done a lot to it.<em><br>Let me finish it with you,_ Roxas said urgently. _We can explain to Demyx afterwards.  
>I hope you know what you're doing, Roxas,<em> I answered, then called on him. Demyx stopped in surprise when he saw the resulting change, the same as it had been the last time I'd borrowed from him. This time though, I let Roxas take charge, which caused me to take on his appearance too while his drive form was still active. He glanced briefly to Star Seeker in his hand, then made a dash past all seven of the necks, Star Seeker easily carving through them.  
>As the Hydra sank down, defeated at last, he turned to face Demyx, winked at him, then the form reverted and I was back again. Demyx looked astonished.<br>"Was that really... I mean he was..." he couldn't seem to find the words.  
>"That was really Roxas," I told him. "He lets me borrow from him from time to time, ever since he rejoined me. Doesn't it make you feel better to know he's working with us too?"<br>He almost answered, but Hercules had what I call an emo-moment instead.  
>"It's no use," he sighed. "I'm just another washout."<br>"Hey, there's no call for that," Demyx objected. "I know a washout when I see one, and you aren't a washout!"  
>"Even he agrees," Meg told Hercules. "You've gotta let yourself get some rest, Wonder boy."<br>"Meg's right," I said. "And so's Demyx. Take it easy for a time."  
>"Don't worry about him, Sora. I'll take care of him," Meg assured me. "I owe you big time."<br>"Nonsense," I scoffed. "Just doing the right thing. Now where's Phil got to?"  
>"Right down here, Junior Hero," he said from the region of my knees, so I crouched down to his level.<br>"Hey, just think, Phil – someday I'll do something here and become a full Hero, then whatcha gonna do?"  
>"You? Full Hero? Don't make me laugh!"<br>"Oh yeah? Did you forget I can see the future?"  
>"Well, you better stop by again sometime, you hear! You've got a ton of training to catch up on."<br>"You mean the Hydra wasn't enough for you?"  
>"Don't get smart with me, kid. Training's always good for you."<br>"Stubborn old goat," I chuckled, giving him an affectionate hug. A rare sign from me, incidentally. "Alright now. All that's left is this," I said, taking out the Olympus Stone and opening the keyhole here. Once it had cleared, I had another idea. "Hey, Demyx? How about you take care of the Olympus Stone for me?"  
>"Uh, me? Y'know, maybe that's not a good idea... I did kinda steal it remember."<br>"I know, but you're one of the good guys with the rest of us now. I'm sure we can trust you with it."  
>Hercules got up, supported by Meg. "Take it," he told Demyx. "If Sora says he trusts you, then so do I. Take good care of it."<br>"How can I refuse that?" he said, taking it off me.  
>"And you, Sora. Take this." I was given a new keychain, namely the one for Hero's Crest. This replaced Star Seeker for a slight boost to my normal damage, but with a drop in magic. I wasn't using it as much, at least for now. Its ability also worked well with Fatal Crest, as the finishing combo move Hero's Crest had would have more power for each combo in the chain, and since Fatal Crest can chain pretty much infinitely...<br>"Where to next, Sora?" Demyx asked me.  
>"Come with us, Demyx, and we'll show you..."<p>

Demyx was surprised by the Gummi Ship. I honestly think he'd never seen one before then.  
>Much to the surprise of the others, I didn't take the controls. But then, I knew what was going to happen, so I settled down to catch up a bit more in the book.<br>"Hey!" Donald exclaimed after a few moments. "It's moving by itself!"  
>"Is it really?" I said in mock surprise. "How astonishing. Do you think maybe it might be leading us where we want to go?"<br>"Uh... just where do we want to go?" Goofy asked me.  
>"Wait and see," I replied with a mysterious grin, then turned my attention on the book. Like the last time, there wasn't much worth mentioning.<br>Along the way, Donald and Demyx started talking about magic. Since Demyx's primary focus is water, it makes him a bit limited in his magic, but on the other hand it has more power than someone who picked it up while generalizing – like Donald, for example. I'm not sure that either of them learned anything new out of their discussion, but I wasn't too worried. It kept Demyx occupied, and it helped us. I was fairly certain in the knowledge that he wouldn't turn back on us again, but at least if he was just going with us to act as a spy, while he was occupied he wasn't sneaking off to report back.  
>I didn't have much to worry about on that front, as it turned out. Demyx wasn't the one I had to be concerned with.<br>Goofy meanwhile was keeping an eye on our course, then when he finally caught on brightly announced, "We're goin' home!"  
>"Home?" Demyx exclaimed. "Hey, it's not my home, I'm not going back there!"<br>"Relax, Demyx," I said. "It's the Disney Castle. Their home, and the home of the King."  
>"But why're we here?" Donald asked me.<br>"Because the Queen needs us. Something's happened to the Cornerstone of Light that she can't handle, so we've been summoned to handle it. There'll be Heartless there, but most of them shouldn't be any problem. I think they'll just be Shadows, except in a few areas, and I'll be able to handle them. We might have to split up after seeing the Queen, so I want you two to go together, and Demyx, you'll come with me."  
>Demyx stared at me for a few moments. "So you really... I mean I figured there had to be some kind of trick to it..."<br>"You could say there is a trick to it," I agreed. The trick of having played through this, though without the kind of meddling changes I'd made. Keeping Demyx alive could make for an interesting story after now, not to mention a few of the changes I'd already planned.


	36. The King's Castle

The Disney Castle... one of the odder looking castles I've come across, it has to be said. What really gets me are the doors to the audience chamber – massive great doors, with only a small bit in the bottom of them that opens. But then, such oddities are what these places seem to thrive on.  
>Chip and Dale, the two chipmunk Gummi Engineers, met us in the hanger. The first time I'd ever pulled the Gummi Ship into a hanger actually. You don't see Sora do it, so you miss what actually happens. It's not as easy as you think it is. Thankfully, since the Gummis that make it up are flexible enough to snap back from snagging on smaller things, I managed to pull in without too much trouble.<br>I can't tell those two chipmunks apart, I admit it. The two of them let us know the castle was in danger, and the Queen was waiting for us in the library, then they scampered off again.  
>"So you really did see," Demyx murmured afterwards. "Do you know what kind of trouble the castle's in, Sora?"<br>"Sort of. I'm not keeping things from your deliberately, it's just I think some things are better left not mentioned. Come on – we shouldn't keep the Queen waiting."  
>"Are you sure she'd want to see me?" Demyx asked as we started up the stairs. "I mean, I am a Nobody."<br>"And you're one of my friends now. So if she wants to see me, she'll see you too. Stop worrying about it."  
>The stairs exit out into the courtyard, where in the first game you see Donald wake up Goofy with Thunder. Or at least, I assume so, anyway. Here the Heartless kept to only three forms, Shadows, Soldiers and Minute Bombs – not the first appearance of the last, but out of all of them the most troublesome. Best way to deal with them is a bit of fire magic normally, but we all tried to avoid using anything but thunder magic for the sake of the garden. Don't say I don't think of other people's property at times like this – I hate to think what Mickey's gardener would have said if he'd noticed us using Fire magic.<br>From the courtyard we made our way up to the Colonnade. Here you'll find a limitless source of Shadow Heartless by the stairs, and until you come back with Queen Minnie, they're the only Heartless here. Needless to say we had little trouble progressing past the barred off doors to the audience chamber and onward to the Library.  
>"Your Majesty!" Donald called, pushing past me to stand to attention before her. "Queen Minnie! We're back!"<br>"Did ya happen to summon us, your Royal Highness?"  
>"Of course she did, I already told you that," I said, then gave her a respectful nod. "Your Majesty. I'm Sora, and this nervous Nobody behind me is Demyx – don't worry, he's working for us now."<br>"The King's told me about you, Sora. He says you're a very brave young man, you know."  
>"I know. Mind you, he's probably going to call me a few other things later on, but that can't be helped. Has he told you I often know what's about to happen?"<br>"He mentioned something like that. Do you know what's going on already?"  
>I nodded, then explained for the benefit of the others. "There are Heartless here in the castle because something's happened to the Cornerstone of Light underneath the Audience Chamber, and you summoned us because you need our help to solve the problem. We'll go down there and find the cause of it is Maleficent, then we'll have to get Merlin from Hollow Bastion before we can do any more. Oh, and you forgot to warn everyone else, and since neither Demyx or I have any clue where anything is around here, Donald and Goofy should let them know to take cover."<br>There was a long moment after I said that where everyone took that in.  
>"Would you two care to warn everybody then?" Minnie asked Donald and Goofy eventually.<br>"Sure thing," Goofy said. "We'll catch up with ya as soon as we're done."  
>"Uh... where will we meet you?" Donald asked.<br>"Just go to the audience chamber and down the stairs," I replied.  
>"What stairs?"<br>"Trust me, there'll be stairs there. Go on – we don't want anyone to be turned into a Heartless if we can avoid it."  
>Once the two left, I turned back to the Queen.<br>"Are you ready to go?"  
>"Yes, Sora. Let's be on our way."<br>Demyx held the door open for her to leave after me, then we noticed the Bolt Towers that had cropped up along the Colonnade.  
>"Sora, can I suggest something?" he asked me.<br>"Sure thing. What's the idea?"  
>"Let me protect the Queen. I can create a barrier that'll keep me and her safe, and leave you free to handle the Heartless."<br>"This isn't just so you can get out of fighting is it?" I asked him slyly, then quickly added, "I'm just kidding with you. Go ahead – if you don't mind if course, your Majesty."  
>"Not at all, Sora," she answered. "Don't worry about me."<br>"But your Majesty, that's what I'm meant to do?" I replied with a grin, then turned back to the Bolt Towers. "Alright," I murmured. "Who's first?"  
>Since these Heartless did not require a finishing move to be destroyed, I switched my Keyblades – putting Fatal Crest in my right hand and Hero's Crest in the left. Mostly this was so I could take advantage of the combo chains I could rack up with Fatal Crest.<br>It took me a few moments to figure out the best way to attack these Heartless, and that turned out to be just to strike before they reacted. They're slow and sluggish until they notice you, and in my case that was perfect – once I got a combo started on one, they didn't have a chance to retaliate unless one of the others got close, and usually by that time, I managed to destroy one and start a new chain on the next.  
>I glanced back only once during all that, noticing Demyx had projected a hemisphere of water over himself and the Queen, keeping it stable as the two progressed along the Colonnade behind me. When we got to the giant doors, he dropped the barrier on the Queen's command, who then took hold of one of my hands to use her own Light spell to drive away the last of the Bolt Towers. With the kind of effect that could achieve, imagine how much easier some battles would have been if Donald or I could have learned that spell!<br>"Not here too!" Minnie exclaimed when she saw the audience chamber was also overrun with Bolt Towers.  
>"Now it's my turn," Demyx said, pulling out his sitar. "Step to one side of the door and enjoy the show, ladies and gentlemen! The water is about to dance!"<br>At first I didn't realize what he meant and Minnie had to quickly drag me out of the way of the door. Once Demyx started playing though, I caught on. The water figures came out of the sitar, but instead of fighting me they surrounded the Bolt Towers and most of the rest of the room. Then with one hard chord struck from the sitar, they lost cohesion and became a coordinated wave of water, crashing over the Bolt Towers and washing them out of the room. It made the carpet a little wet, and probably watered a fair bit of the courtyard's gardens, but it did solve our problem for us.  
>"Nice going, Demyx," I complimented him. "That went down like a real hit."<br>Without the Heartless to hinder our progress, it was easy to reach the thrones. It only took Minnie a few moments to find the hidden switch that revealed the stairs, just as Donald and Goofy turned up. Since I'd already mentioned the Cornerstone, she didn't bother with the explanation.  
>Once inside the Hall of the Cornerstone though, she pointed out the mass of thorns around the room, and the Cornerstone itself. It's light seemed to have been dimmed somewhat.<br>"This is the castle's cherished Cornerstone. But these thorns around us... they must be the work of someone very evil."  
>"Maleficent," I agreed. "Why don't you show yourself – I know you're listening."<br>"My, someone is observant," Maleficent remarked, the transparent image of her appearing. "You have been busy in my absence, haven't you? You and your Nobody... oh yes," she said with a grin, seeing my surprise at this. "Pete's told me all about the trouble your Nobody caused him."_  
>She likes the sound of her own voice, doesn't she?<em> Roxas observed. _I wonder if Pete ever wants to punch the ugly hag._  
>I had to suppress the urge to laugh at that. Sometimes Roxas's comments caught me off guard.<br>"Just what are you doing here, Maleficent?" Minnie demanded – though I have to admit, Minnie and Mickey too for that matter, can't really pull off sounding outraged or angry. It's something about their voice that makes it hard to picture either of them being anything but cheerful.  
>"Ah, Queen Minnie. Radiant, as always," Maleficent greeted her with a bow. "I'm here on a property venture... I want this castle for myself you see. A little bright for me though... so I'll just have to fill it with my own touch of darkness."<br>"You'd better stop if you know what's good for you!"  
>"Ooh, how frightening. Very well, I'll stop – when it belongs to me!"<br>"Don't think I'll let you get away with that," I told her. "If you really want to make this castle yours, you'll have to square with me first."  
>"All in good time... there are others you have to square with first, you know," she told me, then disappeared.<br>"What did she mean by that?" The question came from everyone except Demyx.  
>"Never mind. It's not important. Donald, Goofy – take the Gummi Ship to Hollow Bastion and tell Merlin what's happened. He'll bring you and the Gummi Ship back here. The rest of us will stay here to handle any Heartless that show up, and anything Maleficent tries to throw at us."<br>Now, at this point, obviously nothing actually happens. But you might say I was a little more careful than Sora – given that I had changed so much, I didn't want that to come back and bite, so I stuck around. Just in case. And just as well that I did.  
>Normally, the Absent Silhouette of Marluxia shows up in the Beast's room when you team up to go after Xaldin – except obviously, I'd already destroyed Xaldin. So either Sora intervened and gave me something to do, or the Absent Silhouette decided to challenge me right there and then. Like Zexion's one, it appeared at first to be a smaller dark corridor with the signature scythe rotating inside.<br>I reassured Minnie and Demyx that it was safe, explaining what it was to them, then I reached out to it to accept the challenge, taking me to a station like those seen in a Dive to the Heart, except this one was white, adorned similarly to a white room in Castle Oblivion. Just as with Zexion's it was empty at first but for myself and Roxas.  
>Unlike last time, I kept both Keyblades. Roxas instead held Zexion's Book of Retribution.<br>"Trust me," he said. "I've got a plan."  
>"You figured it out then?"<br>"Sort of. I'm still working on making it available to you as well, but I've figured out how to use it myself. Only in these places though."  
>"And will you really turn it on me, Roxas?" Marluxia asked, having appeared opposite us without our noticing.<br>"After you called me a time-bomb waiting to explode? Think again."  
>"Time bomb?" I asked mildly.<br>"During my first few days in the Organization, Marluxia decided that I wasn't just slow to pick things up like the rest, but that I was just an accident waiting to happen – one that would cause the Organization a lot of trouble, maybe even try to reach you before you got to Castle Oblivion and team up with you. I didn't have any clue who you were at the time, so I couldn't have even if I wanted to."  
>"That was a long time ago now," Marluxia pointed out.<br>"I've got a long memory," he replied. "Now it's payback time. Go ahead, Liam. I'll back you up."  
>"I thought you'd never ask," I murmured, and charged Marluxia. He hurriedly brought his scythe into his hand to block my attack, stumbling back until he was forced to warp away to another part of the platform.<br>"You can't exploit Castle Oblivion this time, Sora!" he called.  
>"He doesn't need to," Roxas replied. One of his hands dragged over a page in the book, then he waved it toward me. Several images of me split off, forming a line between him and Roxas. Every move I made, the mirror images also made. They all wielded identical Keyblades, and wore identical smirks.<br>We advanced on the surprised Marluxia, with Roxas muttering words that helped maintain the control over the images to keep them solid appearing, just as dangerous as me, and most importantly, not overlapping each other or me. That would have given away which of us was really me.  
>Marluxia attempted to slow us by creating a series of black thorny vines, but Roxas created an illusion of a firestorm that affected only the vines, burning them away, and still we advanced.<br>He then started to swing the scythe at the images as we closed, getting more and more desperate as the Keyblades grew closer. I blocked each strike with one of the images Keyblades or my own, then when the images and I were close enough to attack, I started to coordinate my strikes so that as many of the images struck at the same time I did.  
>He managed to warp clear again, this time behind Roxas. I worried for a moment, but then Roxas winked at me. The scythe cut through him, doing absolutely nothing.<br>"You didn't really expect me to leave myself _that_ open did you?" he asked Marluxia scornfully. The image flickered out along with the illusions of me, and the real Roxas appeared by my side. He shared a look with me and I understood, handing him Fatal Crest while I returned Hero's Crest to my right hand.  
>"Now you're up against two Keyblade Masters," I told Marluxia. "Think you can keep up with us both?"<br>Marluxia turned into what appeared to be a wheel, spinning fast and headed right for us. I defeated this by slamming down with the Keyblade just before it impacted me, stopping it, forcing Marluxia to come back and shoving him to the floor. Roxas and I both impaled him on the ends of our Keyblades after that.  
>"How could you... Roxas..." Marluxia breathed as he started to disappear again.<br>"I already told you," he replied. "And I told Zexion too – I'm getting my own back on you guys for all you did to me. You deserve it."  
>When Marluxia faded, I picked up his scythe, the only thing left of him, and gave it a few experimental swings.<br>"You know, I can't see how this thing is meant to be an effective weapon," I remarked. "I suppose you still want it anyway though."  
>"Hey, don't give it to me, see if I care," Roxas told me. "But you won't keep it when this all fades out. At least if I take it, I can make some use of it."<br>"Did he really call you a time-bomb?" I asked him as I handed it over.  
>"That and a good few other things. When Saïx told us the news about his demise, it was hard for me to hide my reaction to the news. The only thing I didn't like about it was that I hadn't been involved in getting rid of him."<br>"Let me guess, that's the other reason you showed up here, so you could feel like you were a part of it again."  
>"You know me too well," he admitted ruefully. "Of course, I'm your Nobody, so I'm hardly surprised. Time to go again. Tell Demyx I said I liked his solution to the Heartless in the audience chamber, will you?"<br>"I'll pass it on," I replied as the view faded back again.


	37. Timeless River

Merlin appeared not long after Marluxia's Absent Silhouette had been challenged and defeated. Donald was talking rapidly, trying to fill him in on the situation, but stopped when he realized Merlin had brought them all back to us.  
>"Perhaps I'd better see for myself instead," he murmured, examining the Cornerstone. After only a few moments to examine it, he added, "Interesting, very interesting."<br>"Merlin, what's happened to it?" Minnie asked him.  
>"This is not good. In fact, I'm afraid it's very serious. And there's only one thing to be done about it." He waved on arm, and the silver door to Timeless River appeared nearby.<br>"Don't worry, Merlin," I said. "I'll keep them out of trouble. I'm sure they'll pay attention to me like they do everywhere else."  
>"You know where this leads, don't you?"<br>"And what's going on there, who's to blame, and what we have to do."  
>"Be very careful there, Sora. The nature of that world-"<br>"Might tempt us to do something dark, I know. Like I said, I'll keep them out of trouble. And I know better than to meddle there."  
>"Pay attention to him, all three of you," Merlin warned the others then. "Trust in him especially carefully while in this world."<p>

I like Timeless River. It's nice and uncomplicated, at least for us who can tell the difference between past-Pete and present-Pete. Even most of the local Heartless aren't too much trouble. The main exception are the car-like Heartless – those ones are annoying.  
>The door from the Disney Castle spat us out, one after the other. Demyx first, then me, Goofy and Donald last of all. I could already tell everything including us was in black and white, and the few sounds there were had the slight difference to them that everything in Timeless River shares.<br>Naturally, I took on Sora's usual appearance in this world, as did Donald and Goofy their own. Demyx on the other hand remained unchanged except for being totally in black and white.  
>We got off each other, dusting ourselves off. The Cornerstone as it had once been, unprotected and with it's protective shield unfocused, lay on the top of the hill nearby.<br>"Hey, look!" Goofy exclaimed. "There's the Cornerstone!"  
>"Uh... are we meant to be..." Demyx started.<br>"Yes," I answered. "And the word you're looking for is Deja Vu, Donald."  
>"You knew, didn't you?" Donald asked me.<br>I nodded, "I can see a lot more about this place. Merlin was right; trust me and be very careful what you do here."  
>"What's so special about it?" Goofy asked.<br>"This world? It's the past of the Disney Castle and town. That's why we have to be careful, if we don't take care, we could alter the future."  
>"Wouldn't that be good though?" Demyx suggested. "I mean, if we could make it turn out better-"<br>"Then we wouldn't come here, and therefore wouldn't be able to make those changes."  
>"But that'd make the changes not happen, so we would come again and-" he broke off and frowned.<br>"Yeah, I find it's better not to think about it," I said, understanding. "Otherwise you'll just give yourself a headache. Don't get surprised in a moment, by the way. He isn't the Pete we know."  
>I got a shared look of puzzlement until the past-Pete came running into view.<br>"Hey, you!" he demanded of us. "Seen any bad guys around here?"  
>"Not here," I answered. "But he's around someplace. Would you mind some help finding your steamboat?"<br>"Now how'd you know it was missing, huh?" he asked suspiciously. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it.  
>"I'd... heard about it."<br>"From who?"  
>I thought quickly, then answered, "Mickey – your deck hand."<br>"Huh... I guess he's making himself useful then..." he muttered, then wandered off down to the pier.  
>"Should we go after him?" Goofy asked me.<br>"No. We've got no problem with that Pete. We might know what he'll become, but there's no point in punishing him for something he hasn't done yet."  
>"What about his steamboat?"<br>"We'll find it along the way. Keep a lookout for a door like the one that brought us here. But first, something else has to happen right here on the hill with the Cornerstone."  
>As if on cue, the first of the curtained windows appeared not far away, springing out of the ground like a flat comic character springing back to life again.<br>Demyx glanced behind it, then tugged on the cord beside it. When the curtains opened, we saw the same scene we were beside, but with four different windows. Each of them opened to admit the nearby Heartless, then disappeared. Then right afterwards, the scene showed us being deposited here by Merlin's door, and all that followed up until just before past-Pete showed up.  
>"What was <em>that<em> about?" Demyx asked, puzzled. "Heartless going out, then us coming in..."  
>"Look behind us. I'll bet those same four windows have just appeared. We'll have to go through each of them and drive out the Heartless in each of them. Watch out for Mickey too."<br>"Let me guess," Donald said. "He's not the same one as the King we know."  
>"Right. We could take one each, but I think we'd better stick together."<br>I won't go into what happened in al of those areas, except for the last of them – which for me, was the burning building. Along the way we saw each of the visions from the present-Pete's point of view, learning about how his feeling sorry for himself had led to the appearance of the other door to Timeless River.  
>It was in that area with the building on fire that I had the most trouble with the Heartless, particularly the Hot Rod Heartless. In the midst of that, I had attempted to call on Valour form – except one of those Heartless caught me, and I found myself for the first time in Anti Form.<br>Donald and Goofy both disappeared, just as when Sora enters that form, but Demyx was around to see the effects.  
>My original fears that I would become as I had been when a Heartless were unfounded. True, I thought at a much more basic level that lent itself well to the wild, almost feral but swift and deadly attacks that go with the form, but I still thought. There was no overpowering urge to consume the Hearts of others, no change in the way I thought as I used Anti Form's abilities to excess. To say I decimated the Heartless would be to say that I was only a little unkind in my treatment of them. Demyx just looked on, looking more afraid that I'd turn on him. I retained enough thought that I wouldn't do that though.<br>Once all four doors were cleared of Heartless, we noticed the Cornerstone had been taken while we'd been busy.  
>"I've got a little job for you," I told Demyx as we headed to the waterway, knowing what we'd find. "The Cornerstone is on a raft behind the steamboat, and our Pete's on top of it. Can you wash Pete ashore, and the Cornerstone back up where it's meant to be?"<br>"I dunno about the Cornerstone, Sora. But Pete, sure thing. What happens then?"  
>"We get to beat him up, with the past Pete's help. That'll make him lead us to the door he used to come here, I'll seal that door, we put the Cornerstone back in its place, and then we also go back."<br>"Does he always make things sound so simple?" he complained to the others.  
>"Sometimes he doesn't even tell us this much," Donald grumbled.<br>"Oh, stop that," I told them. "It's not like I've gotten us into anything we couldn't get out of again, right?"  
>"Doesn't mean you're not going to sooner or later."<br>With Demyx's help, the past-Pete took his steamboat back right away, while the rest of us chased down the present-Pete until he fled through the same door he'd come by. Despite his changing the scene to try and turn it to his advantage, the fight didn't really challenge us much and so we locked the door he'd used, making it disappear. The past-Pete gave us a hand putting the Cornerstone back in its proper place, and then we headed back through our own door.  
>Interestingly, Donald did not try to change the past this time, though that may have been because he knew I'd stop him if he tried. Once back, we were congratulated on good work, the thorns gone. Merlin gave me the keychain for the Monochrome Keyblade, though I didn't equip it right now.<br>Then during Daisy's chase of Donald, I unlocked the next pathway with the restored Cornerstone, calmed Daisy for our borrowing of Donald, then we were on the way again.  
>I could have gone to either of Atlantica or Port Royal here. Atlantica, though free from Heartless, still did not appeal to me because of the singing, and the story is that fragmented so much that I wanted to leave it until I could get it all done in one go.<br>So instead, I opened the path through the Floating Island to go to Port Royal. One of the other worlds I'd been looking forward to.  
>Once the route was opened, I once more turned my attention to the book and managed to finally get fully up to date. A lot had happened since I'd gone to Castle Oblivion – more than I thought. But then, from my perspective, it had seemed like only minutes between the last memory I had of entering Castle Oblivion, and getting woken up by Roxas.<br>This left me with a series of comments and remarks from Sora – mostly not very complimentary ones. While I'd been sleeping, he had made a few changes to make things more interesting for me in this adventure, though he didn't say what they were. But a lot of them were now altered further by what I'd done, some apparently by Roxas during his time with the Organization and after, and now Sora himself was refusing to intervene any further. He'd give me warnings so long as I paid attention to the book, but that was all.  
>One of the more common warnings was to be very wary any time one of the deceased members of the Organization showed up. With only Xemnas, Saïx, Luxord and Axel left, and Axel having turned traitor because he wanted to see Roxas again, there was a two in three chance I'd come up against one of the more powerful members. Having Xemnas show up in person would be more than a little inconvenient.<br>But perhaps the most significant notice he'd left me was about Roxas. Where Roxas had been created from me instead of Sora, he'd inherited much of the knowledge I'd had about his own life, different or not. Though he never showed it, it meant he retained the memories of Xion thanks to that, and even more than that, he had the ability to predict the future – not just know what was going to happen like I did, but to know what would happen even with any further alterations I made. It was limited to here in the worlds I went to and the story events in each of them, but it was an incredibly powerful ability. It had already been seen once, where he'd warned me about Saïx in the Beast's Castle. This was not something to be ignored at any point.


	38. Pirates Ahoy

Something I'd overlooked during the aftermath of completing Timeless River was gaining Wisdom form. Normally I'd stick to my story of not using magic all that much, but it was probably about time I admitted I did use it, and at times to excess. So I decided that during Port Royal, if given the chance I'd make use of it – just to see how it worked out for me really, and if it was one I was likely to use a great deal more, like the magic itself.  
>Port Royal itself is certainly one of the more interesting worlds. Not just because of course it has Captain Jack Sparrow, who no one could fail to love, but because it's somewhat unique among worlds – it has travel between areas within the world. Of course, so do other worlds, but here you travel by ship and frequently get ambushed while at sea, in other worlds you just go from area to area.<br>Have you guessed that I was looking forward to this one yet? I thought you might have. Roxas certainly knew I was, and also knew I was planning to try out Wisdom form, telling me he had something in store for me if he could just figure it out before I first used the form.  
>Naturally, we appeared on the Rampart just as Sora does. Unlike Sora, I didn't stick around. Port Royal, as in the port itself instead of the world, isn't such an interesting place. Tortuga is far more appealing, but alas they didn't let us go there. I can't think why.<br>"Is it just me, or is this world kind of... different," Demyx asked me on the way down to the town.  
>"It's not just you. Can't quite place it myself." I was hardly going to tell them it was based on a live-action movie, was I? Of course, that might not be the real reason it seems different, but it's my best guess. "Get them in the moonlight, by the way," I added, knowing this would prove useful very soon. There were no questions of 'get who in the moonlight' probably because by now they were used to such warnings in advance.<br>We got down to the harbour side just as Pete was watching the undead pirates turn back to normal in the shade of the cloudy skies.  
>"See there?" Pete exclaimed almost happily to Barbossa – who looks decidedly more intimidating in person, by the way. Don't ask me why, he just does. "Those are the punks I was tellin' ya about!"<br>"Who're you calling punks?" I retorted. "It's Sora, Donald, Goofy and Demyx to you, and don't you forget it!"  
>"That we won't," Barbossa replied. "And we'll engrave it on your tombstones, to be sure."<br>"You'll have to get us into the grave first, and I bet we'll beat you before that happens."  
>"Is that so? Then I take ye up on that wager. Men! Half of you stay here and indulge these cullies. The rest of you, bring me that medallion!"<br>Some of them split off to go into the town, the remaining pirates barring the way between us and them. Pete and Barbossa retreated a ways to watch what happened.  
>"Sora, there's no moonlight," Donald said urgently.<br>"Oh no? Why don't we do something about that?" I smirked back, then aimed both Keyblades skywards. With the clouds I couldn't see where the moon was, but I could guess. Both Keyblades shot out the twin beams of light, and I directed them until I found the moon, which reflected the light back, piercing through the clouds, and not just unveiling the pirates skeletal forms, but harming them at the same time.  
>This effect did not last long however, as those beams don't stay out for long. The moon continued to shine through the new gap in the clouds, allowing us to go after the pirates while it still lasted. As the patch of moonlight began to shrink, we were forced to corner them until they ended up within that patch. Somehow, during the fight both Pete and Barbossa managed to disappear on us.<br>"We got work to do here too, don't we?" Goofy asked me.  
>"C'mon, you need to ask? Anywhere we go, we seem to find trouble like this, and anywhere Pete is, you've got the confirmation."<br>"So what do we do now?" Donald wondered.  
>"Simple. We take a pirate ship out."<br>"You gotta be kidding me."  
>"Nope. Not yet though. First we go into the town and find Will. He's a blacksmith, a pretty good swordsman, and is probably after the governor's daughter, who's being kidnapped by the pirates."<br>"We could stop the pirates," Demyx suggested. "Couldn't we?"  
>"Could, but it'd affect too much. Let's just concentrate on finding Will first."<br>That was hardly challenging. Almost as soon as we'd gone into the town, we heard Elizabeth trying to get the pirates to let her go, and just moment afterwards, Will showed up only to be stopped by the Heartless – which were in turn destroyed by me.  
>"What were those things?" he asked afterwards.<br>"The Heartless," I answered. "Might as well come with me, Will. You'll be safe from them in our company, and we'll help you rescue Elizabeth."  
>"How do you know my name?"<br>"I have good hunches. Come on. The Black Pearl just left the harbour, but the Interceptor's still there."  
>"We can't take that," he protested as we headed back down again. "That's a ship of the fleet!"<br>"Actually, it's about to become a pirate ship just as soon as a certain Captain Jack Sparrow commandeers it. Then we'll lend him a hand crewing it, defend it as we chase down the Black Pearl, go to the Isle de Muerta and rescue your lady friend."  
>Will looked amazed at me for just tossing all this out as if it was no serious matter. When he finally recovered his voice, he noticed I'd been right about the Black Pearl.<br>"We have to take the Interceptor," he declared. "I've got to go after her."  
>"The Black Pearl is nigh uncatchable," A voice familiar to me at least told Will. "Your girl is long gone, mate. Best find yourself another."<br>"Captain Sparrow," I called up to him, knowing he was already aboard. "You'll need a crew if you plan to take the Interceptor out. Care to let us be that crew?"  
>"Sora, what're you doing?" Donald exclaimed, pulling me back down. "You <em>want<em> to be a pirate."  
>"Sure thing, if it gets Elizabeth back, which it will. And we'll deal with this world's Heartless problem too."<br>"You have a point, lad. Do you also have a name to go with it?"  
>"Naturally." I briefly handled the introductions, Will included.<br>"Will, eh? No doubt named for your father?" Will just nodded. "Well then Sora and company... welcome aboard. Make us ready to go. I've got some effects to liberate." I paused on the way up the gangplank, knowing he'd stop me on his way down.  
>"I think he's due to change your luck," I told him before he'd even asked.<br>"Is he now? And what about you, young master Sora?"  
>"What about me?"<br>"Something about you doesn't seem quite right."  
>"There's lots of things about me that aren't quite right. But that doesn't mean they're any of your problems, Captain. Just trust me when I tell you what'll happen."<br>"Indeed? Perhaps you could... stick around after this little adventure is done... we could have some profitable ventures, you and I."  
>"We'll see, Jack. I might have other things to see to by then. But I'll stop by from time to time. Just to keep you out of trouble, of course."<br>"Me? Trouble?" he asked, his face the picture of innocence. "Perish the thought, mate." Jack and I are two of a kind when it comes to that kind of thing. Our sense of humour is very similar between us, even if we do take different approaches to things.  
>With Sparrow's return, he corrected a number of small mistakes we'd made. None of us actually knew anything about how to sail a ship, with the possible exception of Will, but under Sparrow's tutelage we at least became competent enough to get her out of the harbour and out to open sea.<br>Most of the journey was uneventful. I was expecting at least a few ambushes, but after a long time waiting, it became clear that nothing was going to attack. Jack was focused on his compass, since it was the only way to find the Black Pearl. He indulged himself, telling the story behind the Pearl and the Aztec gold to the others. I've seen the movies, so I already knew. I was kind of hoping Sora might have made a few changes to make it a little more faithful to the movies, but apparently not.  
>When we arrived, Jack had us guard the ship while he and Will went on into the cave to rescue Elizabeth. While we were waiting for that, I noticed Demyx seemed a little distracted, leaning on the far side of the ship staring out to sea.<br>"Something bothering you?" I asked, joining him.  
>"Don't you ever get the feeling that all this is just beyond you, Sora? I mean, how many worlds have you been to and done stuff like this for?"<br>"More than I can count," answered with a chuckle. "And there's more yet to come, believe me. But it doesn't matter how many there are or have been, I'll get through them all the same."  
>"Yeah, but... doesn't it ever seem kinda endless?"<br>"That's the thing about adventures. You never know where they'll lead, or how long they'll take, but that's part of the adventure. Finding out what happens next and who else we'll meet."  
>"I don't know, Sora... it all just seems like too much for me. I liked it when I was back in the Organization – things were nice and simple then. Now I've come with you, it's like the complete opposite instead."<br>Now I stared out to sea too, and had a little insight.  
>"There's one way to make even things like this seem small and insignificant – shrink them down to size so they're easier to handle."<br>"Hows that?"  
>"Look out to sea, Demyx. What do you see?"<br>"Water?"  
>"Look deeper. Don't worry, I'm not suggesting going for a swim or anything."<br>"I guess there's fish down there..." he answered doubtfully.  
>"Look at it this way – seas are always vast, covering huge areas. No matter which world or where, the sea is the same everywhere. She's vital for all life, and she cares for all the life that lives within her. Everything depends on her sooner or later. Maybe she has a bit of a bad temper now and then, but she always calms down again afterwards. But given her size, do you think something like this really seems all that big to her? The sea doesn't care that there are things going on she doesn't understand, or that there are people trying to do bad things. In the end, if you think about it enough, you'll see it's pretty much the same for us. Those things are going to happen either way, so why worry about them?"<br>Demyx gave me an odd look, and said, "She? It's just water, Sora. It's not alive."  
>"Isn't it? Think about what I said. Maybe if you look out to sea for long enough you'll understand. She helps put things in perspective."<br>I left him contemplating that and headed up the mast to the crow's nest so I could keep an eye on everyone, including where Will and Elizabeth would be. But more importantly, I wanted to talk to Roxas without anyone else around.  
>"Are you listening?" I murmured to the empty air.<em><br>Of course I'm listening. What did you think I was doing, chasing moonbeams?_  
>"Very funny. I read Sora's note about you. I don't suppose you can see anything interesting?"<em><br>You should know it doesn't work that way. I don't get things on demand, they just happen by themselves. Why do you think I didn't warn you about Saïx back at the Beasts Castle until it was too late to do anything about it?_  
>"Be nice. I had to ask. What about what you were working on?"<em><br>It's all ready. You won't believe me if I tell you about it, you'll have to try it for yourself. I think I can apply the same thing to the others too. All we have to do is find and defeat the remaining Absent Silhouettes._  
>"What about those members who didn't get destroyed at Castle Oblivion? Like Xigbar and Xaldin?"<em><br>Just stop by the Garden of Assemblage after you meet Terra. Oh, I should warn you – when you first get there, there's something I want you to do before anything else._  
>"What's that?"<em><br>I'll tell you when you get there. It's kind of significant in a way, so I don't want to let anything change how it could end up. Things are bad enough with the changes you've made yourself, you know. Be very, very careful when you go back to the Land of Dragons, Liam – I can't tell who's going to show up in Xigbar's place, but they're not going to be friendly about it._  
>"Thanks for the warning."<em><br>No charge. You'd better get back down on deck and find out what's taking them so long._  
>"Already know. All I've got to do is mention that Jack and Will aren't used to fighting Heartless, Pete's here somewhere, and then we'll head off to cover Will and Elizabeth on their way out."<em><br>You think of everything, don't you?_  
>"I certainly try to. Anything else you can think of before the others see me talking to myself?"<em><br>Just one thing, but Tron will tell you that when you see him. I don't want to spoil that one for you, because I reckon you'll like it more that way._  
>"How kind of you," I murmured, then made my way back down.<p> 


	39. Magical Mayhem

Just as I'd said to Roxas, when we left the ship to find out what was taking them so long, Elizabeth and Will came running out of the cavern being pursued by more of Barbossa's pirates. They went on past us and back to the ship, letting us know they'd give us a sign when they were ready to go. Until then, we had to hold off the pirates.  
>The same trick I'd used on the first undead pirates worked here too, though not so well. Many of the rock formations blocked the moon's light, forcing us to drive them back into the light – and for obvious reasons, they did everything they could to avoid that.<br>Unlike the game though, these pirates did react when hit outside of the moonlight – it just didn't harm them. One of them pulled a gun on me, and was rewarded by a fist in his face, neatly shoving him back into the light, only to be smashed apart by Goofy doing his tornado attack.  
>They didn't stop coming though, and after a time Heartless started to supplement their numbers. At least these foes could be hurt all the time. With the Heartless on their side, it was us that had to start falling back. The pirates guarded the Heartless, and the Heartless blocked the moonlight, making it difficult to get either.<br>Thankfully we spotted a flare come from the ship just in time, so turned and ran back to it. Once we hit the open moonlight nearer the ship , both pirate and Heartless broke off pursuit. Demyx paused before boarding the ship, sending a tidal wave crashing into the rock face to wash them into the water. Some managed to stay up, but not many. One or two of the pirates managed to drag themselves out, shouting curses after us as Will guided the Interceptor away from the Isle de Muerta.  
>I took care of the wheel for a time while Will bandaged the cut Barbossa had left on Elizabeth's hand belowdecks. I had Goofy go on up to the crow's nest to keep an eye out behind us, while Demyx and Donald remained ready to fight. Demyx had objected, but I pointed out that since it was going to happen anyway, he might as well keep in practice so he wouldn't need us to back him up. Not that he did, but it got the point across.<br>He still complained about it though.  
>It was when came back up on deck to rejoin me that Goofy noticed what I'd asked him to go up there for.<br>"Ship ahoy!" he called down. "It's the Black Pearl! She's following us!"  
>"She'll catch us without a doubt then," Will said. "She's the faster ship. What would Jack do..." he wondered aloud.<br>I had my own ideas here. "Donald, Demyx – ready on the port side!" I told them, then noticing the momentary confusion I added, "The left side. Elizabeth, go below. It'll be safer for you there."  
>"I'm staying with Will," she insisted.<br>"Fine. Then everyone grab hold of something tightly!"  
>"What are you going to do?" Will demanded of me, taking hold of a rail nearby with one hand, and Elizabeth with the other.<br>"Watch and learn, mate," I grinned back. "Here goes – hard to port!" The last wasn't exactly necessary since I was the one steering the ship at that point. The Interceptor creaked and groaned, leaning over as we turned to present one side to the Pearl. "Will, take the wheel," I said then. "Keep one side on the Pearl." Then I joined Donald and Demyx.  
>"What do you want us to do?" Demyx asked, looking worried.<br>"Be ready to throw any magic you've got at them. Just like I will."  
>"What about the cannons?" Donald suggested. "We could use them too."<br>"Could, but with only a few of us, we don't have the manpower to make effective use of them.  
>Demyx stepped back, bringing out the sitar again. This time, the water forms he created were not from him, but from the sea itself. They climbed up onto the deck of both ships. On the Pearl,they attacked the pirates. On the Interceptor, they started loading the cannons.<br>"Who says we don't have the manpower," he winked at me.  
>Now it was just Donald and me on the rail of the ship.<br>"Are we in range?" I called up do Will.  
>"Not yet," he replied. "Just a little more."<br>"Just say the word, and we'll be right on them."  
>It was only a short time, though it felt like longer. When will gave the command to fire, Demyx's water forms shot the cannons, Donald started throwing magic at them, and me... I pulled Wisdom form for the first time. Just like all the other forms, the view blurred for a moment as it took effect. When it cleared, I looked the same as Sora does in Wisdom form, but I was not armed the same. Fatal Crest hovered in the air nearby, while in one hand was the Book of Retribution. Roxas had made it and the magic within available to me by integrating it into Wisdom form.<br>Since any skill Roxas had, I also had – with the exception of his future sight – I knew thanks to him how to work this. Fatal Crest was controlled simply by thinking about it, and so it was sent toward the Black Pearl, firing off shots just like any Keyblade would while in that form. Once it was close enough, I had it engage the pirates as if it was held by a phantom.  
>As for me, I glanced through the pages of the magic within the book, then called on a tempest storm. Just as Roxas had to create the illusionary images of me in the fight with Marluxia, to activate any of the spells here all I had to do was drag one hand over the page, then off toward the target.<br>If you've played most of the Final Fantasy games, you know that the kind of magic Sora normally uses is that of a Black Mage, with Cure from the White Mage. One of the jobs that appears in Final Fantasy, or at least in some of them, is the Illusionist, and it's their kind of magic which appears in Zexion's book. They have to be carefully controlled, so they only hit the targets you want, and not everyone and everything, but Roxas had already figured this out, and so I knew how to as well. The tempest I created had used a fair bit of my magic – illusions on that kind of scale don't come cheap, you know – but it had the effect I wanted. It drenched everyone on the ship, which of course only helped Demyx's water forms, and it created its own wind, countering the Black Pearl's speed advantage. She was still closing on us, but not so fast.  
>I idly noticed a few holes our cannons had blasted in the side of the ship, and suspected Jack had probably given the same comment as he does in the movie. It couldn't be helped though.<br>Apparently the Interceptor hadn't been fully loaded while in the harbour though, and we soon ran out of cannonballs. After only three illusions, I lacked enough magic to create any further ones, and had to resort to more normal magic and the Keyblade that was there, until someone tried to grab it – resulting in it disappearing and reappearing beside me, just as Wisdom form finished. Demyx had to pause in his music too. Even he can't keep going for long. This left only Donald, backed up with Jafar's staff sending magic at them, but without the additional aid the rest of us had been providing, the Pearl soon caught up with us, drawing alongside. Naturally, they boarded us.  
>Because of my tempest illusion, the clouds had gathered and left no holes for moonlight to shine down through. Without that, we were forced to surrender. The idea did not sit well with me.<br>Barbossa joined us aboard the Interceptor, examining each of us in turn. Will had disappeared somewhere along the line, though I had a feeling he'd be back soon. Until then, Barbossa seemed to assume that I was the one that had been in command on the ship.  
>"So tell me Sora. Just what have ye done with my medallion?"<br>"I ate it," I answered sarcastically. "Honestly, did you really think I'd leave it lying around for _you_ to take?"  
>"You'd better start being more cooperative, my boy," he replied, making a gesture. The pirates nearby put their weapons to the necks of all the others. "Unless the medallion is more important to you than their lives?"<br>"I don't know where it is," I told him. "I'm not stupid enough to get involved with cursed gold. Unlike some others I could name."  
>"Pete's told me about you, boy. You can see things others can't. So just you go and see where that medallion is. Last chance, or they'll be getting it."<br>"It doesn't work on demand. It just comes to me whenever it feels like it. I've got no choice in the matter."  
>"Too bad for you then. Men-"<br>"Barbossa!" Will called, stood up in front of the ship's wheel, pointing a gun at Barbossa. "They go free!"  
>"Go ahead and shoot! We can't die."<br>"You can't – but I can!" Now the gun was turned on himself.  
>"What's in your head, boy?" I just laughed. "And what're you finding so funny."<br>"That there is Will Turner, son of Bootstrap Bill, and the one whose blood you need," I grinned back. "If he shoots himself, you'll be cursed forever."  
>"On my word, do as I say!" Will commanded.<br>"Name your terms... Mister Turner," Barbossa said.  
>"They go free!" he repeated, gesturing to us."<br>"Aye, we know that one, anything else?" Jack tried to get Will's attention, but Will didn't seem to notice.  
>"Off our ship, and leave now!"<br>"Agreed," Barbossa said, grinning like a shark. "Leave we will... but the Heartless stay!"  
>Pete appeared behind Will, knocked him out and then with surprising grace for him he leaped the gap over to the Pearl. The pirates then tied me and the others up, threw us in the hold with Jack, then returned to the Pearl.<br>"You know, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't have created that storm," I murmured afterwards. "If it hadn't been for that, they'd have been exposed in the moonlight."  
>"Never mind that, what're we gonna do now?" Donald demanded.<br>"How about getting loose?" Jack replied, standing up. The ropes dropped off him, and he revealed a dagger in one hand. He quickly freed the rest of us. "But before we go back up on deck..." I was given a meaningful glance.  
>"Barbossa's left explosives on the deck," I sighed. "We'll have to knock all five into the water and deal with the Heartless Pete has left us before we can go anywhere."<br>Demyx pulled out the sitar again. There was a crashing of water that rocked the ship, then the sounds of movement we could hear abovedecks was gone. A few drips of water came through the planks above us.  
>"What explosives?" he asked us.<br>"I'm glad he's on our side now," Goofy said, treating Demyx to a friendly hug. Demyx looked faintly embarrassed, but seemed happier to play the hero with the rest of us now.


	40. Fight in the Light

We sailed back to the Isle de Muerta thanks to Jack's compass once again pointing the way, and persuaded Elizabeth to remain aboard the Interceptor. Demyx volunteered to remain with her and keep her out of trouble, and even then I had to get her to agree to trust me before her objections subsided.  
>"That was neatly done, mate," Jack remarked on the way back in. "How did you know she'd accept it?"<br>"It wasn't hard. You're a pirate, and I'm just a boy with a knack for telling the future. Speaking of which, don't do anything to attract their attention when we get there. I've got a little plan."  
>"Oh no," Donald muttered. "Not another one."<br>"Oh stop that. It'll work, I'm sure of it. Jack... well, you go ahead once they know we're there. I know what you're going to do, go ahead with it. Leave Barbossa's pirates to us."  
>"And these Heartless creatures? What of them?"<br>"There should only be one, and that one will only show up when Barbossa calls for Pete's help."  
>"Anything else?"<br>"Nope. That's why it's a little plan." I dropped my voice as we entered, hearing the echoes of the pirates deeper in. "Short and simple and to the point. Now, why don't we go crash this party?"  
>"With you all the way, mate."<br>We edged carefully in, avoiding making any sound at all.  
>"Now, let's be trying this again!" Barbossa was saying. "The last of the Aztec treasure has been returned, and now the blood will be repaid to free us from this curse forever – this time, for sure!"<br>He took hold of one of Will's wrists, then took out a knife – what I'd been waiting for.  
>"Thunder!" I called out, hoping it would strike true. A bolt hit Barbossa, jolting the knife from his hand before it was conducted into Will, who was in turn thrown from the treasure heap into some shallow water. "Ahoy, Barbossa!" I called afterwards, coming into view.<br>"Not possible!" he breathed.  
>"Not probable," Jack corrected. "You don't need Aztec gold to avoid death."<br>"That's right," Donald added. "You just gotta know how to be a _real_ pirate!"  
>"And that's us!" Goofy finished. They hadn't exactly given the best finishing lines to it, but I guess it worked.<br>"So ye want to play pirates, do you? Best save the acting for the nursery. After them!" he commanded with a wave of one arm. Jack swiftly fought through the initial confusion to reach Barbossa himself, while Goofy protected Donald as he made his way over to Will, intending to heal him and release his bindings. Goofy picked up an ornate sword along the way so Will would be armed.  
>This left the majority of the pirates to me. At this point, there was a good scattering of moonbeams shining into the cave, and the various treasure scattered around reflected much of that to illuminate even more. There were still secluded spots however, and the reflected light did not totally show them – it allowed them to be harmed, but only with a great deal more work.<br>I planned to save my magic for the moment, and so kept to fighting Keyblade to cutlass. I'd improved a fair bit since the last time I'd gone up against anyone else with a similar weapon, so it wasn't as hard as I thought. Having two Keyblades made it slightly easier, so long as I remembered I could handle two of them at once.  
>Once Will was back on his feet the others joined me. Goofy chased down any pirate that was trying to retreat, smashing them apart from behind while they were unwary. Donald put the Gravity spell to a new use, making it pull the pirates toward the better lit areas instead of just flattening them, and Will just joined me in the sword fight. His superior skill showed through easily as he fought, and I tried to keep an eye on him so I could pick up a few new tricks of my own, while also trying not to get too distracted.<br>With the pirates all defeated, Will thanked me then we turned our attention to Jack, who was fighting Barbossa.  
>"Should we help?" Will asked me.<br>"Are you kidding me? If we go stumbling in there right now, we're only going to make things worse. Best to hold back and watch what happens next."  
>"What's going to happen next?"<br>"Wait and see," I replied.  
>We watched as the two fought, Jack almost showing off as he held Barbossa off, until he stumbled over a rock and got stabbed.<br>"You're a fool, Jack Sparrow," Barbossa told him.  
>Jack stumbled back a bit further, then into some moonlight, revealing his own skeletal form.<br>"That's interesting," he murmured as everyone else looked on in shock or surprise. Jack flicked the Aztec medallion through the bony fingers of one hand. "Sorry mate. Couldn't resist."  
>"Get ready, Roxas," I murmured, closing my eyes. I'd need to be able to see in the dark soon, and keeping them closed early would let them adjust quicker. "I'm going to need Zexion's book any moment now."<br>_Don't worry. I made another little change. Whenever you use Wisdom form, if you need his book just think about it and what I've done will take effect. If you want the normal Wisdom form as it was before I altered it, just don't do anything.  
><em>"Thanks."  
><em>No charge. Look sharp.<br>_I didn't open my eyes to see what was going on, but heard Barbossa jump back down to the shallows below with a splash. "Show yourself, Pete!" he called. "The tide has changed."  
>"See, I told ya you'd be needing ol' Pete!" Pete's voice came, though we didn't see him. This was because his Illuminator Heartless didn't just block out the light, it sucked it in. None of the others could see yet, but I was starting to make out shapes already. I quickly ducked behind the others so neither the Illuminator or Barbossa would catch me unawares and send me into Anti-Form, then called on Wisdom. The first thing I did was send an illusion into the cave, using massive amounts of my magic, but lighting it up as if in broad daylight for us only. Barbossa and the Illuminator saw no different.<br>I knew I had limited time in Wisdom form just like all the others, so put it to good use. It allows for quicker movement, and actions on the move as well. I used this to quickly inform the others that only we could see the light and so to keep noise to a minimum an focus on the Illuminator before my illusion faded. As an extra precaution, I told Donald not to use any magic that could light up the area. I wanted every advantage I could get here.  
>A quick thought caused the Book of Retribution to disappear from my hands, allowing me to take up Fatal Crest – this form only allowed for one Keyblade – and start shooting at the Illuminator. Barbossa noticed the shots I was firing and homed in on me, which I expected. Whenever he got close, I froze the water at his feet, then hit him with a few Fire spells as I left before turning my attention back to the Illuminator.<br>It was strange, fighting in near-silence. Normally the air was filled with grunts or calls to each other for a helping hand, not to mention Donald and me giving our magic an extra kick by actually calling out the name or effect, such as Fire or Blizzard. It isn't necessary, but it does make it much easier to cast with no side effects. Silent-casting is a touch more difficult, and does need a little more magic for some of the more complex spells, but is well worth the trade off in a situation like this.  
><em>Liam, get closer to the Illuminator,<em> Roxas warned me. _Your form is going to cancel out before you can finish it off, and your illusion not long after. You need to get in there and finish it off the old-fashioned way.  
><em>With that warning in mind, I froze Barbossa to the spot one more time, then headed for the Illuminator. Sure enough, Wisdom form ran out of time before it fell, but a few minutes with my Keyblades raining down on it in the already fading light of my illusion finished it off.  
>I turned quickly, and just as well. Barbossa had used the sounds of my Keyblades to home in on me, and if I hadn't turned as soon as the light came back, he would have caught me unprotected. Since everyone else, even Jack and Will, were in different parts of the cavern to me, not even they could have stopped it.<br>So for the second time, I engaged a pirate Captain in a fight. I'd already fought Captain Hook, now I was up against Barbossa himself. And Barbossa is a far more dangerous opponent than Hook is, not just because of the curse on him.  
>I knew that unlike the other pirates, I wouldn't be able to defeat Barbossa myself, so I didn't bother with powerful strikes. Instead I kept my attacks light, swift and tightly controlled, only keeping a Keyblade in contact with his blade for as long as necessary before bringing it back and lashing out again. Barbossa still managed to avoid most of them, though he never once broke through that to harm me.<br>Then Jack was there behind him. I spotted him slit his wrist with the medallion and flick it up to Will, who'd made his way to the chest. Jack caught my attention then, signalling for me to hand the fight over to him. I caught Barbossa off-guard, suddenly switching tactics for powerful blows that pushed him back.  
>After only a few of these, he stumbled backward and past Jack, who shot him. Everyone and everything seemed to stop.<br>"Ten years you carry that shot," Barbossa said. "And now you waste it."  
>"He didn't waste it," Will called down. He had his hand tightly clenched, a few droplets of blood just visible between the fingers. More was visible on the sword in his hand. As we all watched, he opened the hand and dropped two medallions. One stained with his blood, the other with Jack's.<br>Barbossa dropped his sword, opened his coat and looked down at the red stain blossoming on his shirt.  
>"I feel... cold," he breathed, almost in wonderment, then toppled over backwards, defeated at last.<br>We had to practically drag Jack out to keep him from taking all the treasure, though to be fair Donald had to be persuaded to leave it alone as well. Once outside, I apologised to Jack for not being able to stick around, but promised I'd stop by again as soon as I could. He in turn gave me the keychain for Follow the Wind so I wouldn't forget there was bit of me that was most definitely a pirate. I'm not so sure myself, though I'll admit if it meant getting to loot and plunder with him, I'd have humoured him, at least.  
>With that, Jack's compass acted as the focus for me to unlock the next pathway and with it the routes to Agrabah and Halloween Town. Naturally I was looking forward to the latter, but the former... Yen Sid's warning about this world still stood, and I was reminded of it every time I saw Donald holding Jafar's staff. I should not have taken it from him, but I had. And until I went there, I had no idea what awaited me in Agrabah. This would only bother me if I left it, so no matter how much I wanted to go back to Halloween Town and to see Christmas Town with it, I decided that going to that world would be a kind of reward for resolving whatever I'd caused in Agrabah. Work before pleasure, after all.<p> 


	41. Desert Dreams

The route to Agrabah lay through the Ancient Highway, the partner to Halloween Town's Broken Highway route. These two routes, along with the similarities some routes share with the worlds they unlock, has given me some interesting suspicions.  
>For starters, we're told that before the Keyblade war, all worlds were one world. I suspect that these routes, like worlds, were part of that one original world, perhaps even highways between them as these two routes suggest. But that begs the question of why they did not become worlds too. My theories here are either that they were too fragmented to be a world (like Asteroid Sweep), or that they were simply not populated enough. Of those, I suspect the latter is more accurate.<br>At any rate, the broken highway pieces of the route acted as guides as we headed through the sometimes winding pathways, defeating the Heartless and Nobodies that plagued us there. As I was still both piloting and firing at the same time, it was hardly much of a surprise that I'd grown more skilled than I had been the first time I did so. Most of the enemies were still dispatched by the Heartless and Nobodies.  
>As usual, once we'd cleared it I set the Gummi Ship to pilot us the rest of the way by itself and turned back to the book. There were a few messages in there from Sora, mostly still complaints about having to do my job. They weren't really too serious now that he'd gotten into it though, aside from the occasional really annoying job we come across it's just the same obligatory complaints that everyone gets to make.<br>He did leave me one warning though, reminding me of why I was here.  
>'Watch out in Agrabah. Can't tell what will happen, can't even get the book to tell you. Unless Roxas tells you anything, you're totally on your own this time.'<br>Helpful.  
>"Roxas?" I murmured, knowing he'd seen it at the same time as me.<br>_Sorry Lee. I don't have anything yet. I'm getting stuff that's due to happen next time you go to Twilight Town, and even that isn't anything good.  
><em>"Anything worth warning me about?"  
><em>Nah, not really. I'll let you know closer to the time. I've got Marluxia's scythe ready for you to use by the way. Just think about it when you call on either Valor or Wisdom. I know what you're going to say, you're not likely to use it. But you don't actually have to hit your enemies with it, you can fire off a kind of sonic boom with each swing. You might find it useful sometime.<br>_"Maybe. Don't hesitate to tell me anything you get while I'm here."

Agrabah. Oh dear gods. If I knew what was going to happen here, I would have avoided it like the plague and done whatever I could from the safety of the Gummi Ship. This initially innocuous seeming world was not worth the trouble it put me through by a long shot. But it was my own stupid fault for thinking I could get away with stealing Jafar's staff and not giving it back to him before I left.  
>I had a very bad feeling from the moment I set foot in this world again, and my bad feelings are widely known to be exceptionally accurate. And like usual when I get a bad feeling, I had no idea what it was about, just that there was something bad coming.<br>We appeared in a mostly secluded part of Agrabah that's actually just outside the peddler's store. Thankfully this time, the new clothes I'd been given alleviated the excessive heat, so I was not as waspish as I was last time, and I was thinking clearly. Given that I was already on edge from all the warning signs, this was probably a very good thing.  
>"Agrabah!" Goofy exclaimed happily, as if he hadn't known where we were headed. "We made it back at last!"<br>"Maybe the King's here," Donald suggested, looking to me curiously.  
>"I don't know," I told him, looking around. Everything appeared to be normal, and that was what worried me.<br>"Huh? You don't?"  
>"Something wrong with your predictions, Sora?" Demyx asked me.<br>"I just said... I don't know. Stay alert. Anything could happen here."  
>I think that one statement concerned them more than this world did me. They were used to having some idea what was coming thanks to me, so working without that was a bit of a shock.<br>Fortunately, the story here is not completely unrecognisable. Iago soon flew into view.  
>"I suppose you don't want us to judge you too quickly," I said to him.<br>"No! Please, it's not the old me! I turned over a new feather!"  
>"Oh really? Nothing to do with Jafar... at all?"<br>"No, completely! I'm clean and free as any other bird now!"  
>"I guess we should trust you... for now. Especially if you want us to talk to Aladdin or Jasmine for you."<br>"I thought you said you didn't know?" Donald asked me, tapping my shoulder with the staff. Each tap felt like it froze my shoulder, though there was no visible sign of it.  
>"I'm getting it small bits at a time. Would you put that staff away? There's nothing to fight here."<br>"Watch out!" Iago exclaimed.  
>"Nothing to fight here," Donald muttered seeing the local bandit-like Heartless appear.<br>"I'm just having an off-day, alright?" I snapped, then turned my attention to handling them. Unlike Sora, we didn't have to take cover in the peddler's shop. I'm just a bit more determined when it comes to those massive crowds of Heartless like that, and I won't give up if I know I can keep on holding them off.  
>These Heartless aren't actually too much trouble, and it didn't take long for us to drive them off. I'd say me and the Keyblades did much of the work, but Donald's magic seemed especially potent here. I should have connected the dots and seen what was going on right there and then, but I wasn't expecting it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?<br>"I guess we owe ya one for that, Iago," Goofy told the little parrot, now perched on his shoulder.  
>"Just be on your best behaviour. No slip ups, no mistakes," I reminded him.<br>"Yeah, I got it," he said resignedly. "Say Sora – who's your new friend in the black coat?"  
>"Demyx. Used to be working for one of our foes, but I made him an offer and now he's one of the good guys with us."<br>"Hey, y'know I used to think I was one of the good guys before too," Demyx objected. "I mean we had Roxas with us and everything, it was all going our way until he left the Organization."  
><em>I didn't exactly have much choice. I wasn't going to let Xemnas get away with things, not after what he did.<br>_Though he didn't come right out and mention Xion there, it was clear that was who and what he was talking about. Another hint at what had happened in his life; Xemnas had reprogrammed Xion and forced them to clash just like they should have normally, with the obvious outcome.  
>"The Organization was, and still is somewhat misguided," I replied absently.<br>"Just where're we going, Sora?" Goofy asked.  
>"The Palace. Where else do you think we're going to find Aladdin or Jasmine?"<br>"He's probably right," Iago agreed.  
>Aladdin was not there of course, but Jasmine was. That conversation mostly went the same as expected, she thanked us again for the last time we stopped by, told us Aladdin was acting oddly, and we agreed to look. Iago did not make his suggestion because I warned him if he said anything without my specifically letting him while near Jasmine, I was going to pluck his tail feathers out.<br>We did not get the chance to give her Iago's apologies because as soon as she knew we would look for Aladdin, she went back into the palace itself, somewhere that despite saving Agrabah before, we were still not allowed. Go figure.  
>The various warnings and concerns were temporarily forgotten when we passed through the market. It's a bad habit I have, when there's an open air market like that I always end up having a look to see what's there, even if there's nothing I actually want.<br>Things were set straight again with a curious sight at one end of the market. Aladdin's monkey Abu ran past with Jafar's lamp in hand, followed by Aladdin, who passed with a quick, "Hi Sora!" and was gone. Then that short little peddler raced after them, shaking his first and calling for them to come back.  
>"After them!" I commanded the others, realizing what I'd just seen. I knew what I wanted from this market now, and it had just gone running past in a monkey's arms.<br>Aladdin cornered the Abu, only to be cornered in turn by the peddler, who was cut off from leaving by our arrival.  
>"If you can't control that fur ball, put a leash on him!" the peddler was saying.<br>"Look, I'm sorry," Aladdin insisted, then turned to Abu and said, "You should be ashamed of yourself, Abu!" He held out one hand, and Abu gave him the lamp. "No hard feelings?" he suggested, handing it back to the peddler. The peddler turned, and saw us.  
>"Well, excuse me!"<br>"Wait just one moment," I said. "That lamp. How much are you asking for it?"  
>"This? You want it too, huh? Then you can join the others in the queue! A treasure worthy of a sultan, or don't bother me again!"<br>I squatted down and treated him to a grin.  
>"Come now, little friend. Surely we can come to some... agreement. I mean, I'm here right now... and I'm willing to pay."<br>"Sora," Donald started, by I waved him into silence.  
>"Sora, Iago's-" Goofy began.<br>"Hush Goofy. I know. Now stop interrupting. We're about to make a deal, aren't we?"  
>"How much are you offering me?" the peddler asked shrewdly.<br>"Well obviously I'd have to examine the merchandise first... verify it's as good as it looks, not some cheap knock off or something... not that I'm suggesting it is, of course," I assured him.  
>"You could just be saying that to get your hands on it."<br>"I could. But how about this – you have my word I won't do any more than examine it, then I'll return it to you as soon as I'm done. Deal?"  
>"Deal," he replied, shaking one hand and handing me the lamp in the other.<br>"Nice going, Sora," Aladdin said. "Now-"  
>"No," interrupted firmly. "I'm not going to break my word, and none of you are going to try and get out of it. This is a fair and honest business dealing." I looked the lamp over. Exactly as I'd suspected, this was the same lamp I had imprisoned Jafar into. It was cold to the touch – the same kind of cold touch Jafar's staff had been when Donald used it to tap my shoulder. "Interesting, at least," I conceded, handing it back. "Of course, it would be worth more if it still had the stamp of the artisan that made it on the base. Without it, who knows who made it? I hope you didn't pay too much to get it."<br>"You think it could be fake?" the peddler wondered. "I didn't exactly buy it, I just sort of... acquired it."  
>"Of course. I understand entirely," I replied, laying a hand on one shoulder. "But I could take this off your hands right now, and you'd never need to worry about such things again."<br>_Liam, no!_ Roxas snapped in alarm. _Don't buy the lamp from him, not that way! Something terrible is going to happen if you pick it up again, and it'll be worse than if you leave it right now!  
><em>"However," I continued, not missing a beat or showing any sign of this sudden warning. "I think your original offer is more than enough to cover the costs of this rare and fine little artefact, along with any... unfortunate circumstances that were to befall anyone else."  
>"Hold on just one minute," the peddler replied. "Just a moment ago you were implying it wasn't worth as much as I thought it was, now you're going the other way?"<br>"Be honest my friend, how many lamps do you see that are coloured this way in these parts? Why, I wouldn't be surprised to find it's a magic lamp... and then your asking price would be well deserved, wouldn't you think?"  
>"A... fortune..."<br>"Worthy of a sultan. Why don't you run on back to your store, and we'll stop by later on with something that's just perfect before the day is out. What do you say? Deal?"  
>"Done," he confirmed, then we let him go.<br>"What was _that_ about?" Aladdin asked me curiously. "One moment you're trying to buy it for nothing, then you backtracked."  
>"I... saw something. Something bad. I don't want to talk about it. Iago, is there still a treasure in the Cave of Wonders?"<br>"Always," the little bird replied. "But Sora, that lamp-"  
>"I know. Not a word, not yet. Just come with us while we retrieve the treasure. I assume you're coming too, Aladdin?"<br>"Of course! Anywhere you go is bound to be interesting, right?"  
>"I hope you don't come to regret saying that," I muttered, leading the way.<br>We stocked up on water just outside the city gates, then rented some camels to ferry us to the Cave of Wonders – I was not going to waste my energy travelling through that desert on my own feet, even without the heat getting to me.


	42. Duck Amuck

Now so far, you've probably got a few suspicions about what happened, or to you what is about to happen. Bear in mind that like most of the other worlds in this round, the story is split over two visits – and so were the results of my meddling.  
>The Cave of Wonders had changed its layout, though this time to a somewhat simpler design. We passed through the first rooms without incident, pausing at a room with a hovering jewel and waterfalls on either side, because I stopped everyone.<br>"Don't touch it," I warned them. "There's a trap in place on it. Everyone past it and to the pedestal."  
>"What good will that do?" Aladdin asked me.<br>"Simple – there's a delay between removing it from its place, and the trap triggering. The trap is designed for someone taking it from where we are, on this side. But as we know about it, standing on the other side will give us time to quickly pass it along and set it in place to disarm the trap before it has time to trigger." Or at least that was my theory. The statues dropped into place, but with the jewel set into the pedestal in time there was no further action taken.  
>The next stop was the Chasm of Challengers, with several floors of Heartless to go through within a set time limit. You have two advantages here – you can't fall off, and you know how long is left. The only advantage I had was that I could ignore the three member party limit. Not much help in the limited space on each platform, except to allow us to catch each other before falling off.<br>That challenge was easily defeated in time though, allowing us entry into the treasure room. Donald eyed the treasure with undisguised greed, except when he noticed one of us looking at him. The staff in his hand seemed to glow red, though at the time I put it down to a trick of the light.  
>I had to pull the statue away from everyone else and get Demyx to take it, in part because I trusted him not to cross us, and in part because as a Nobody, I suspected he was immune to the idea of wanting it for himself. And of course because he doesn't like to fight, but everyone knows that.<br>With that out the way, we turned to leave only to meet Pete's Heartless in a darkened room. I cheated a little here, sending a beam of light from one Keyblade reflecting off all the treasure in the room to keep it well-lit. Without the darkness to hide in, the Heartless were outmatched easily.  
>After that, we just had to make the long trek back to Agrabah. I kept a close eye on Donald, though not because I suspected anything at this point. I know what he's like with treasure. Along the way, I pulled in my camel alongside his – not an easy feat incidentally, camels are stubborn creatures – and gave him a little warning.<br>"Keep your mind off the jewel," I told him, talking about the one Abu has sneaked back from the Cave of Wonders. "And if you do happen to get your hands on it, give it to someone else."  
>"But Sora... we could use it too."<br>"We've got plenty of munny saved up if we really need anything, and so far we haven't needed to. We don't need it. Besides, you know the rules – no meddling in other worlds, and taking it from this world could have consequences."  
>"<em>You<em> meddle all the time," he accused me sulkily.  
>"I know what I'm doing," I brushed it aside. Donald muttered a few complaints to himself, nudging his camel onward so he wouldn't have to listen.<br>_Liar,_ Roxas muttered. _He's not going to take any notice though, so have someone stay nearby to take it off him. I'm getting a strong impression that letting him keep hold of it isn't going to go well, but I can't get anything specific.  
><em>"Thanks for the warning," I muttered, then went and warned Goofy that if he saw Donald with a jewel, to take it off him for me and for his own good.  
>We didn't even make it all the way to the peddler's shop to see Pete run out with the lamp, the peddler running after him again. I let Aladdin take the statue to his house, then he caught up with us as we got to the courtyard in front of the Palace, only to see the resulting chase between them and Iago, followed by the Genie showing up. Since that pretty much happens the same way it normally does without any intervention from me, I won't go into the details.<br>Pete summoned the Blizzard and Volcanic Lord Heartless to be a pain, but we had other ideas.  
><em>Get everyone to move aside, and have Donald keep the two of them close by with Gravity,<em> Roxas told me, with me quickly relaying the orders. There were objections, but cut across them by telling them I had a plan. Which Roxas did, so it counts. _Now, bring on Wisdom form, and use Marluxia's Scythe,_ he told me once everyone was ready. Not something I wanted to do, but...  
>Wisdom and Valor forms while under the influence of Marluxia, or at least his scythe, both come up pink instead of red. This doesn't bother me in the slightest – I hold the opinion that it takes a real man to wear pink and not give a damn – but it did earn me a few sniggers from the others.<br>Marluxia's scythe replaced both my Keyblades this time, but was also affected by them. One wide, if slightly inexpert, swing sent a shockwave through the air toward the two Heartless that was visible as a line of petals smelling faintly of rosemary, I think. The two Heartless briefly combined, then exploded into many smaller Heartless, Icy Cubes and Fiery Globes.  
>With Wisdom as the form Roxas had me use, I could channel magic through the scythe and out into the shockwaves it produced. Sending Fire through it caused a blazing arc through the air that set everything alight, easily carving through the Icy Cubes. Demyx helpfully put out the fires again for me, while I sent Blizzard into the scythe to handle the Fiery Globes.<br>Maybe there was something decent to be said about the scythe after all, at least when used properly. I still maintain it's inefficient in comparison to some others though.  
>With them defeated, I turned to face Pete. Predictably, his spine deserted him and he fled, leaving me to make peace between Iago and Jasmine, persuade the Genie he was clean and clear, then wait for him to come back with Abu and Aladdin. Remembering my earlier warning, Goofy prudently took up place on one side of Donald, and I on the other.<br>"Catch him!" Aladdin told us when he reappeared, pointing to Abu. Everyone except me and Demyx dived for him, landing on top of him with the jewel he'd been carrying rolling away. Donald squirmed free first to claim it. Since Goofy was still in the pile up on top of Abu, I moved to take it off him.  
>Big mistake. As soon as I touched it, I felt a surge of energy in my hand, then I was flung away and into the wall beside the Palace's gates with a crack that I felt more than heard. By the time I was seeing clearly again, only Demyx hadn't suffered the same for trying to take it off him.<br>There was a laugh in the air that sounded exactly like Jafar's, then a fire rose up around Donald. Demyx tried to put it out, but his water only turned to steam before it got close enough, causing another of Jafar's laughs, then the fire vanished, and Donald along with it.  
>Everyone looked to me, expecting me to have some answer to it, but I had nothing. Roxas did though, and as he had back at the Beast's Castle, he pushed me aside to speak to them directly through me again.<br>"Jafar's taken him somewhere," he told everyone. "I don't know where, and neither does Sora. Something with more power than either of us is blocking us out. You're going to have to keep moving without him."  
>"Roxas?" Demyx wondered. "Is that-"<br>"Yes, it's me," he sighed, exasperated. "Don't ask silly questions. You're going to have to get the statue you brought from the Cave of Wonders to open the next pathway."  
>"Will we get him back?" Goofy asked Roxas.<br>"I don't know. All I can tell is that you'll have to solve this the next time you come here. I don't have anything else, so all you can do is move on. I'm done now," he added, letting me have my voice back again.

Now, a little more side story for you all, with some more Sora and I unearthed about Xion and Roxas. Or Xion, at least.  
>Xion, being an imperfect replica of Roxas, copied his ability to see what was coming, both with and without changes. Unlike his though, Xion's only worked for any event where he was involved in some way, limiting its use somewhat.<br>Xion made use of this to keep himself out of some of the more serious trouble the real Xion gets into – when he saw the Keyblade stop responding to him, he feigned illness just before it stopped so he wouldn't have to go on the mission to eliminate the Veil Lizard.  
>Similarly, when faced with Riku, he made full use of his prediction to turn the fight as much in his favour as possible, though in the end Riku still managed to overpower him. Not without great effort though, and it was in that battle that Riku assumed the form of Ansem, not against Roxas.<br>When Roxas went to confront Xemnas, Riku intercepted him and explained the situation, confirming much of what he knew from his own predictive ability, and so he actually went willingly with Riku into the simulated Twilight Town, and was thus permitted to retain his memories while in there.  
>Lastly, when Axel followed Xion to the old mansion in Twilight Town, he cut short the time with Naminé, knowing that Axel would show up. Given the somewhat rebellious and sometimes playful personality Xion inherited mostly from me, I understand why he set a trap for Axel that left him drenched, leaving him as an open target to being frozen with a Blizzara spell at him, allowing Xion to make good his escape.<br>Roxas on the other hand, being able to see more than just events centred around him, was able to take more wide-ranging actions when something came up. When the news came to him about there being a member lost at Castle Oblivion, he ignored Saïx's insistences to be patient and wait, instead going with a more reckless option – going to Castle Oblivion itself. He knew the close proximity to both me and Ventus was going to trouble him, and so dragged Demyx along to get him back again if it became too much for him. He managed to hold off the effects long enough to reach Marluxia and demand an answer from him though, discovering the fallen member was Vexen before Demyx got him back out. Demyx was let off for his involvement in that incident, but Roxas was warned not to disobey orders again, was given a warning for that, and then told if he was seen anywhere near Castle Oblivion again Xemnas would devise a fitting punishment. Obviously, turning him into a Dusk was not going to be beneficial, since they needed him and the Keyblade.  
>Right, that's all I've got this time. More of my adventures come in the next chapter as usual.<p> 


	43. Happy Holidays?

The loss of Donald subdued us all during the journey through the Broken Highway. Never before had I had to leave someone behind like this. Even when I had been a Heartless, I was able to reunite with everyone else before they left Hollow Bastion, so leaving Donald at Jafar's mercy in Agrabah was a hard choice to make. Roxas had told us we would have to solve it on the second visit, but this made it no easier to accept.  
>Before we arrived at the Broken Highway itself, I took us off to the Disney Castle to see Chip and Dale – you might be able to customize your Gummi Ship anywhere, but I was limited to the one single hanger right there.<br>After getting tired of telling me what I wanted to do wasn't going to work, the little chipmunks evicted me from their workshop, and went to work on what they had decided I needed. The resulting changes made the Gummi Ship look almost exactly the same, but on a larger scale. With a bit more firepower and defence. The idea was that since the later routes that needed to be opened were going to be more challenging, it made sense to prepare in advance and get used to the way she handled and such.  
><em>Then<em> we went to the Broken Highway. Demyx took Donald's place, and Roxas quietly let me know he'd made more changes to my Drive forms that would allow him to take Donald's place for Wisdom and Master too, though I had yet to get that one. Aside from having to take a little time to get used to the handling again, the newly upgraded Gummi Ship was mostly the same to me. I focused on flying it as usual, but even then I could see the additional firepower making a real difference.  
>Once more I glanced into the book when we were clear of the Broken Highway. As usual, there were a few entries keeping me up to date on things, along with two notes. One warned me that I had better get Donald back safely or he'd never let me hear the end of it, and the other told me that when I got to Christmas Town, I'd need to warn Santa not to use my actual name – like Jack, he'd be able to tell I wasn't Sora instantly, which is a bit of an inconvenience when I've been running around telling everyone otherwise.<br>Despite our concern about leaving Donald behind, I was looking forward to getting back to Halloween Town, not to mention seeing Christmas Town and the effects both areas would have on Demyx. Up until now, the only significant change had been Timeless River, and even that had just been a simple colour change to make him fit in with the rest of the monochrome world.  
>I'd completely forgotten some of the other effects of the Organization's trademark black coat though. Does Roxas change at all when he goes to Halloween Town? Or Xigbar, or any of the others? Unfortunately not. The coat has an irritating tendency to disappoint me at times like that.<br>When we arrived, it was Goofy who noticed the odd extra decorations the town had.  
>"Hey, Sora," he said. "Isn't this meant to be Halloween Town?"<br>"It is," I replied, examining one of the nearby graves to find it belonged to Zero. "But Jack is up to something. That's why there's... other decorations too."  
>"You know something, don't you?" Demyx asked shrewdly.<br>"Naturally. But this one I'm keeping to myself. Jack can tell you about it in a moment."  
>At the second mention of Jack's name, Zero popped up out of the ground, flew around me, then headed off the town square. Obviously he remembered me.<br>In the town square we found Jack's launch and landing ramp.  
>"What's that for?" Demyx murmured to me.<br>"Listen," I answered, grinning – an effect that seemed to bother Demyx a little because of the vampiric appearance I gained here. Donald's more fun to scare though.  
>"Bells?" Goofy wondered, hearing them.<br>"Look there! What is that?" Demyx pointed.  
>I didn't reply, knowing what was going to come. Jack expertly landed his strange sleigh down onto the ramp along with his three skeletal reindeer. Christmas in Halloween Town is a strange kind affair, but then this <em>is<em> Jack we're talking about.  
>"Sora, Goofy and... no Donald?" he paused momentarily, nonplussed. "Welcome back anyway, and Merry Christmas!"<br>"Not Happy Halloween?" Goofy asked him.  
>"Oh... of course. Halloween greetings from Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King." He made a scary look at us, which only Demyx actually fell for, but it was clear his heart wasn't really in it.<br>"Are ya feeling alright?"  
>"Forgive me," he shook his head, stepping down nearby. "I'm in a Christmas mood. You see, I'm running the show again this year of course, but for Christmas I need Sandy Claws's blessing."<br>"So you're off to Christmas Town," I finished. "And you mean Santa Claus, by the way."  
>"That's right! But first we have to visit Sally. She's working on something no self-respecting Santa can do without!"<br>"Mind if we tag along?"  
>"Of course. But..." he hesitated.<br>"Donald got captured by our enemies," I covered quickly. "We can't get back to him yet, but we're working on it. This here is a new friend we made, Demyx."  
>"Demyx," he repeated absently. "You know, you remind me of someone else I saw here a while ago. Never did stop to say anything. He had blonde hair, a bit like yours, Sora."<br>"Roxas," Demyx identified him. "Saïx did send him here pretty often. Roxas told me once there was a kind of scarecrow here that was made to look like him."  
><em>I remember that. I had no idea Jack had seen me. Still, it wasn't a bad likeness,<em> Roxas admitted to me.  
>"That was my work," Jack told Demyx proudly. "But we can talk more about him later. We should find Sally."<br>Good old Doctor Finkelstein was at work on another experiment, assisted by the questionable help of Lock, Shock and Barrel. Predictably, they ignored the doctor's various warnings he gave, threw the machine part on the table and it exploded. The trio escaped, running past Sally. She and Jack shared a brief conversation, where she asked for a little more time, and then Jack headed out.  
>"Please, Sora," Sally said to me. "I'm afraid something terrible will happen if Jack does this."<br>"It will," I confirmed for her. "But don't worry – I'm here. What can possibly happen that I can't handle, huh?"  
>"Another disappearance," Demyx muttered, just loud enough for me to hear.<br>"Are you coming, Sora?" Jack called from the doorway.  
>"Of course we are, and yes, they are."<br>"By the way, are those strange fellows the same ones who tried to spoil things last time?" Jack asked, playing along as we left.  
>"I'm never going to get used to that," Demyx told Goofy. "It's creepy. Like he's somehow living a few minutes ahead of us."<br>"It's overrated," I threw back over my shoulder to him. "You end up worrying about things that haven't happened yet. The kind of things that wouldn't bother you if you didn't know about them in advance. Like Xemnas – meeting him again is not something I'm looking forward to."  
><em>Stop underestimating yourself,<em> Roxas told me. _You'll do fine against him. After all, I'm right here with you too, and I wouldn't be surprised to find you weasel out of only having Riku with you too.  
><em>I hadn't even considered that possibility. It was at least theoretically possible. I'd just have to make a few explanations at the right points and maybe I'd have Mickey and everyone else with me too. Fighting with the King himself alongside me... well, the only time I know of where that happens otherwise is outside the old mansion in Twilight Town, just before you go into the simulated Twilight Town, and even then he's just an ally, not a party member.  
>For reasons I can't explain, I like fighting the Heartless in Halloween Town. It's not any specific kind of Heartless as such, but I just find it's just something I enjoy doing. Maybe it's Halloween Town itself, I don't know.<br>But Heartless are Heartless, and with two Keyblades, Jack, Goofy and Demyx, as usual they never really lasted long enough to be any trouble.  
>"This is terrible," Jack muttered afterwards. "How is Santa meant to relax here with all these Heartless showing up?" I didn't bother to point out that it's hard for some people to relax in the holiday town of frights. "I've got it!" he exclaimed, startling all of us. "We'll have to be his bodyguards while he's here!"<br>"Jack," I said gently. "Don't you think Santa ought to stay in Christmas Town to oversee Christmas itself?"  
>"Of course! But I think he deserves a break, and I'm just the person to fill in for him!" I think the scariest thing about him at that point was that he was totally serious.<br>Jack led us up through the graveyard into the Hinterlands, as it's apparently called. I could be mistaken, but I'm fairly sure I spotted a few trees that had other things on – like the Candy Cane representing Christmas, but for other occasions. I was tempted to suggest having a look in one or two of them, but then I remembered what had happened to Donald – I did not want to cause something like that again.  
>While in Christmas Town, I gained what most call Sora's Santa Form – mostly similar to the normal Halloween Town appearance, but with a black Santa Hat and similar garb. Since this was, as previously noticed, the Final Mix part of the game, Goofy also changed to his Reindeer form he gains here. Interestingly, Demyx was affected in this part of the world, his black coat becoming a Santa red with the white fluffy trims you'd expect. Even the hood on the coat became an attached Santa hat.<br>"And here we are! Christmas Town!" Jack announced. "The spooks of Halloween can get a bit tiresome year after year. I wanted something new, and lo and behold I found this! Here in this world there is no shortage of wonders, the likes of which you've never seen..." I let him go on for a bit longer. It was clear he was excited about all this, so it didn't seem polite to interrupt.  
>"So where do we find Santa?" Demyx asked, still slightly amazed by his new appearance. "And is this going to be permanent?"<br>"He'll be in his workshop in the valley below, and to answer your question Demyx, just while we're here in Christmas Town," I assured him, though his face fell. Apparently he wanted to keep it.  
><em>Leave it to me,<em> Roxas murmured. _I think I know how to use your book without needing to write in it. I'll have a word with Sora for you, and you can pass it off as a kind of Christmas present from me. No doubt he'll like it more than the last one I got him.  
><em>I was treated to a brief image from Roxas's own memories – a rare and unexpected experience – showing the Grey Area, though adorned with several Lazy Boy chairs – the kind you can lean back in and get the footrest from it. Xigbar was in one of them chuckling merrily at something that I hadn't been given the chance to see, while Demyx looked warily at his, apparently for the same reason. When Roxas convinced him it was safe, he finally gave it a try, only to find he'd replaced the cushions with the sort of things you normally find in water beds, making the entire thing almost wobble underneath him until they gave out under his weight and sent water everywhere.  
>I also caught a brief glance at Saïx coming in with a disapproving glance at the scene before the snippet of Roxas's memory finished.<br>No doubt Demyx would appreciate it better than that, but that left me with the question of just how Roxas had convinced even a couple of the members to go with Christmas – let alone where he'd heard about it.


	44. Friendly Signs

Christmas Town is almost the complete opposite of Halloween Town. Instead of frights there's fun in abundance. Jack kept having to come back to stop me from getting distracted by the sights. I guess I'm just a big kid at heart, and no self-respecting kid would pass up the chance to do everything possible in a place like this.  
>On the other hand, I turned a little more serious when we entered Santa's House, recalling Sora's warning. Like Jack, Santa would recognise me for who I really am, and not who I wanted everyone else to see. At least without Donald's suspicious turn of mind, if I did have to explain anything it wouldn't be so bad. Demyx, like the rest of the Organization, knew who I really was, as did Roxas. Only Goofy believed otherwise.<br>So when we entered, I hung back instead, letting Demyx and Goofy go in first.  
>"Something wrong?" Jack murmured to me, having to bend almost double to come down to my level. "I thought you of all people would look forward to this."<br>"Remember when I first came to Halloween Town?" I whispered back. "And the 'mistake' you made?"  
>"Oh. Santa would know, wouldn't he?"<br>"Exactly."  
>"Leave it to me!" he said happily, clapping a bony hand on my shoulder. "Sandy Claws!" he called ahead to the unmistakable figure sitting by the fireplace. "Nice to see you again! Remember me?"<br>"How could I forget?" he answered wearily. "What mischief are you up to this time?"  
>"Oh, no mischief. How about I introduce my friends here?" he offered.<br>"Hmm, let's see now," Santa said, peering at us. "Goofy and Demyx, isn't it? And you behind, you're-"  
>"His name's Sora," Jack said. "There's a bit of a case of people thinking he's not, but really he is."<br>I just nodded with a quick wink before anyone else turned to look at me.  
>"I see," Santa said, not quite believing. He held up a list in one hand and went on, "You know where you are then... Sora."<br>"I kinda guessed that would happen," I replied. "It wasn't entirely intentional."  
>To my surprise he actually laughed instead, and I started to wonder if I hadn't made a mistake in what he'd meant.<br>Before anything else, there was a crash from the factory next door.  
>"No trouble, Jack?" Santa sighed. "Are you sure?"<br>"It's nothing to do with me this time," Jack protested.  
>"This time?" I asked, just as curious as Sora was.<br>"It's a long story. I know! Why don't we prove our innocence by solving this for Sandy Claws!"  
>Santa sighed again, but got to his feet to let us in. Voices came from above.<br>"Who's there?" Santa called out.  
>"Lock, Shock and Barrel!" I called afterwards. "I know you're here!"<br>"Busted!" the three of them shouted in unison, then we spotted them by focusing on the smash of the window. I just caught sight of the last of the green flames Maleficent uses to travel by.  
>"Not those three..." Santa said.<br>"I assure you, they're not with us!"  
>"No, Maleficent put them up to it. Jack, you can talk to Santa about Christmas later, we've gotta catch those three first!"<br>"But-"  
>"You'll have your chance Jack, don't worry. Come on!"<br>"Sora!" Santa called after me, pulling a chain out of his pocket, on the end of it what appeared to be a small bee. "Take this with you. It was given to me by someone else. I had planned to give it to you much later, but I think you'll understand once you see what it gives you – and who gave it to me."  
>This piqued my curiosity, so I set it in place of Fatal Crest, changing its form to that of Sweet Memories. Of course, since I didn't go to Hundred Acre Woods, this couldn't be from Winnie the Pooh, and it was unlikely it was Sora, though evidently he'd been involved. That left only one person, one I felt guilty for having left out during my adventures here still and instantly missed the moment I realized it was him. I understood alright – just like Sora, my friends, and those even closer to me than my friends, are my greatest strength.<br>I put the chain for Sweet Memories away, since it wasn't really all that useful to me at the time, then we headed off again in pursuit of the three little troublemakers.  
>There was only one way they could have gone out of Christmas Town, and so aside from pausing to handle a few Heartless we had no trouble following them out and back into Halloween Town.<br>From there, we would have had to track them down, but I remember where to go pretty clearly. Through the various boneyards to the strange hill that used to lead to the former site of Oogie's mansion. There, waiting for us was the Prison Keeper Heartless with all three of the children inside.  
>The Prison Keeper might be a boss Heartless, but it isn't terribly troublesome. At least, not if like me, you come up with a neat plan. Demyx drenched it, I froze that water, then used Valor form to take full advantage of its immobilized state to finish the fight before it even started.<br>I did feel a bit sorry for Lock, Shock and Barrel, since they'd had to weather the ice too, but aside from throwing a pumpkin bomb each at me before they ran off laughing, they seemed unconcerned.  
>"I wonder where that Heartless came from," Jack wondered. "I know there wasn't one like that before."<br>"Maleficent brought it here," I told him. "We'd better get back to Christmas Town before-" I broke off.  
>"Before what?"<br>"We're too late already, I know it. Santa's already left to come looking for you, Jack."  
>"But that's good!"<br>"No, it's not! Because Sally will send him on back after she takes a message for you, which will give Maleficent a chance to sneak Oogie Boogie into his workshop so they can capture him on his return!"  
>"But we defeated-" he began.<br>"Yes, we did, and now he's back because of Maleficent, now can we _move_?" I was getting a little impatient. I hate it when people stall me when there's things to be doing.  
>That impatience may have cost me. Along the way back, I discovered one of the stray skateboards scattered around the worlds, though I wish I knew who kept putting them there. I told the others to catch up with me and hurried on ahead.<br>Thankfully, since Roxas is much better on a skateboard than me, I had no trouble getting back to the Hinterlands and into Christmas Town. My own experience on skateboards is somewhat limited.  
>When I burst into the workshop by myself, Maleficent and Oogie had only just finished tying him up. With one swift slash from Hero's Crest, the bonds were undone and Santa fled while I provided the cover.<br>Naturally, the workshop had been redecorated to Oogie's own design, though this barely registered as I aimed for Maleficent. She simply vanished before I landed an attack with a cruel laugh, leaving me to face Oogie Boogie alone.  
>"Ooh, you little pest," he said. "I gotta score to settle with you – you're the little kid that beat me last time!"<br>"I'm no little kid," I snapped, making a swipe for him which he easily dodged, jumping up into that cherry picker thing above the conveyor belts. "The name in these parts is Sora, and you are just a big bag of bugs."  
>"Ooh, fighting talk! Can't be having that in here, can we?" He shoved one lever, causing clear barriers to block off the conveyors from each other. Apparently he also recalled that thanks to Sora, I'd gained wings and flown around in the last fight, so these conveyors also had an extra barrier over the top. A second lever activated the conveyors.<br>At first, this baffled me – if there were barriers in the way, how was I meant to hit the various presents up at him? I figured there had to be something to it, so continued on as if they weren't there. The presents passed through the barriers easily, it was only me they blocked off.  
>I continued to hit the presents up until his contraption dropped him down onto one of the other conveyors, which presented me with the problem of which of the gaps lead to the others – you get nice blue and red lights to show you, I didn't. Unfortunately, the delay that caused me allowed him to get away before I managed to do anything to him, and I was forced to go through the whole process again.<br>By that point the others arrived, and it wasn't long before Jack and Goofy ended up on the furthest conveyor, and Demyx stayed on the middle one. With targets on all three of the conveyor belts, Oogie put them into overdrive, chucking out even more presents, the odd Heartless and even a few pumpkin bombs.  
>I was too busy concentrating on my own conveyor to give them the details of how to handle Oogie, though they seemed to get the idea after watching me for a bit. When he fell down this time, he ended up on the same one as Goofy and Jack, who did what they could before he managed to escape them.<br>The third time he was knocked down, he was not so lucky, and incurred the full wrath of me in Valor form, knocking the bugs out of him quite literally after I managed to tear a hole in his side. With that tear, the barriers fell completely, and the others were able to join in finishing him off.  
>"Why didn't you wait for us?" Demyx asked me afterwards. "We could have helped a lot more."<br>"Believe me, you did help," I told him. "And Christmas is safe thanks to us."  
>"Perfect!" Jack said happily. "I'd better get down to business."<br>"Not so fast, Jack Skellington," Santa told him. "Don't you even think about taking over for me again. You can see what've you've caused this time."  
>"But... surely you could use a break."<br>You know the rest, pretty much. There was one difference, and that was when Sally handed Jack his own Santa costume. Santa relented and allowed him to handle Christmas in Halloween Town, with his own 'Halloween frightful scare' as Santa put it, and Jack promised to stick to Halloween again afterwards, quickly heading back off to Halloween Town after thanking us for our help.  
>Unlike the normal course of events, the keychain that Santa had given me was the focus that unlocked the pathway. Once it was unlocked, I hesitated, then told Demyx and Goofy to go on back, and I'd catch up with them.<br>Santa apparently knew I would be coming back in afterwards, because he was sat back in his chair, waiting for me.  
>"You want to know whether I was talking about the list or not, don't you?" he asked me.<br>"I guess I'm not the only one who knows a bit more than they should, huh?"  
>"Oh, you'll find there's plenty of people with a good insight into people, Liam. But keep an eye out when Christmas next rolls around for you – you never know who might send you an unexpected gift."<br>"Does that mean..."  
>"You'll have to wait and see," he answered the unspoken question. "Go on. Your friends are waiting, and when you see Riku next, tell him he ought to be a little more careful what he says he believes and doesn't believe."<p> 


	45. Lions Lying, Hyena's Hooting

When I joined the others aboard the Gummi Ship, it was clear that Roxas had made good on his previous statement about Demyx's new appearance, though it had lost the fluffy white trimmings in favour of a blue that matched his sitar.  
>He was surprised to find he'd kept the appearance albeit with those minor changes, and even more surprised to find that it was Roxas who was responsible for it. I was given an unexpected and slightly embarrassing hug from him that was actually meant for Roxas, but I guess I'd had a hand in it too.<br>With that out the way, it was time to make the choice of destination again. There were only two unvisited worlds available now. Atlantica, which I was insistent on putting off until I could do as much of it in one go as possible, or go through the relatively easy expanse of the Sunlight Storm to reach the Pride Lands.  
>While among my favourites before going there, it was one alteration that neither Roxas, Sora or I take credit for that made it jump to the most favourite world of them all as soon as I visited it. To this day, I still have no idea who caused that change, but whoever it was should know that everyone who went there was happy for it.<br>What was it? Just be patient a moment, I'm getting there. I know a lot of you have an interest in what happened there, but please, one thing at a time.  
>Once through the Sunlight Storm, I glanced into the book to find nothing interesting except Sora complaining again, not just for having to get up at a stupid hour for my job again, but for having three jobs that mean he'd get home at about the same time he'd get up, only a day later. Sometimes days like that happen, but at least he and I both get the benefit of napping on the way to and from jobs at times like that.<br>I left him a short note asking him if we'd still see Riku on our next visit to the Land of Dragons, in preparation for another meddlesome change. You'd think after all I did on the first adventure, I'd have learned not to meddle when it came to Riku, but this one I was hoping would have a minimal impact, and a considerable benefit. I wouldn't find out if I was right for a while though.  
>Then I thought of something else as I stowed the book away.<br>"Say, Jiminy. You've been awful quiet this time round. Are you alright?" I asked him.  
>"Of course I am," he chirped, hopping up to his usual place on one of my shoulders. "But all you've been getting up to has left me very busy. I've been having to work extra hard to keep the journals up to date. I do wish we had the first one back though."<br>"Hopefully I'll be able to do something about that soon, so don't worry too much. Anyway, do you remember a little promise I made, way back when I first started going around the worlds with you guys?"  
>Jiminy thought for a few moments, tapping his chin. "Nope, can't say I do. That was a while ago now though."<br>"I promised you I'd show you some big cats, remember?"  
>"That's right! How could I have forgotten? And you did, too. That big tiger."<br>"Sabor," I agreed. "But now I'm going to make good on it again in this world."  
>"We don't have to crash again to see it, do we?"<br>"Of course not," I laughed. "And don't you look so concerned either," I added to Demyx. "We only crashed because Donald and I were having a disagreement about whether we should have gone to Deep Jungle or not."  
>"And did you?"<br>"Ya know, I don't think we did," Goofy said, tapping his head in thought. "We didn't exactly get much outta it, did we?"  
>"Of course we did," Jiminy replied. "If we hadn't gone, we wouldn't have gotten the last Navigation Gummi to reach new worlds, would we?"<br>"Alright, hush now, and listen," I murmured. "This world isn't like the others we've gone to. While we're there, we won't be human at all."  
>"Like Atlantica?" Goofy suggested.<br>"Similar, but in Atlantica I was still partly human. Here in this world I won't be. It'll take a bit of getting used to, but as long as we watch out for the hyenas, we'll be fine."  
>"Uh, Sora? If you're not going to be human, how are you going to hold your Keyblade?" Demyx asked. "And what am I going to do?"<br>"One thing at a time," I said easily. "Now, what d'ya say we go on down and see what we look like, huh?"  
>As soon as we appeared in the rocky gorge, two things were immediately apparent. First, I did not share the exact same appearance Sora does here – Demyx and I both had the appearance of juvenile Lions – not quite adults as old as Simba, but not cubs either.<br>Remember that alteration I mentioned? That was the second thing. Three of us had left the Gummi Ship, but four of us appeared on the ground. There was Goofy in his usual form of course, Demyx looking himself over as a lion, and myself and another young lion that looked identical to me except for one thing. I had the Kingdom Crown hanging around my neck, while this twin instead had the same thorn-like necklace that he does while in the Simulated Twilight Town – this was Roxas, of course.  
>Roxas and I both caught on immediately, and at exactly the same time we both burst out, "Snap!" Maybe we are a little childish at times, but then I never really grew up.<br>"Did you do this?" Roxas asked me then.  
>"Me? I was about to ask if you'd done it!"<br>"Guess not. Stop staring Demyx, of course it's me," he added, not bothering to look over at him.  
>"Not my fault," he protested. "I wasn't expecting it. Anyway, how am I meant to fight like this?"<br>"That reminds me," I murmured, then summoned Hero's Crest, which appeared in my teeth. A bit of an awkward way to hold it. Fighting like this was going to take some getting used to.  
>Roxas followed suit, with Fatal Crest coming to him similarly.<br>"I thought something like that might happen," Roxas told me casually after we'd both dismissed them. "Demyx, look at your feet. I mean paws. You've got claws on them, and like any good lion you've some good sharp teeth there. I know I have," he added, grinning broadly to show them off.  
>"Hey, cut that out!" Demyx said. "That's just plain creepy."<br>"Don't worry, I don't plan on using them on you. Company, Sora."  
>"Heartless?" Goofy wondered on seeing the Hyenas close in.<br>"No, they live here," I answered. "Don't panic. Something's going to happen."  
>"Yeah, that's right!" one of the Hyenas cackled. "We're gonna have us some lunch, that's what!"<br>"We didn't bring anything to eat!" Demyx protested.  
>"They mean they're going to eat us, stupid," Roxas muttered.<br>"Be nice," I told him, then to the Hyenas, "You mess with us and you'll regret it!"  
>"Oooh," another said, pretending to cower. "Scary. Whatcha gonna do, little Lion?" he asked, drawing close.<br>"This," I answered, turning, planting both front paws on the ground, then kicking him solidly in the face with my back paws to send him tumbling. "Anyone else wanna try me?" I demanded belligerently.  
>"There goes the neighbourhood," Roxas remarked to the others. "You two stick together. Sora and I can handle ourselves, but you two should help each other out."<br>"You can't be serious, Roxas," Demyx burst out. "There's loads of them."  
>"Yeah," I replied, "But we're Lions, and they're just a bunch of hooting Hyenas." I said it more for the benefit of the Hyenas, who did not take being taunted well. Several more of them got brave enough to attack, and this time not just me.<br>I kicked another away, then snapped near the neck of another, close enough that he thought I'd actually gotten him and fled with his tail between his legs. A third really did get bitten on one leg and had to limp away, chastised.  
>Roxas meanwhile took a more direct approach, circling around to ram them from the side to send them tumbling so he could rake them with his own claws. After a few such examples, they decided to leave him alone.<br>Demyx seemed ill at ease in his new form, but took his lead from Roxas and I, managing to drive two away, the second with the help of Goofy catching him from behind while spinning inside his turtle shell.  
>At that point the rest turned and ran, but I was having too much fun to let up just because they'd lost courage, so I led the pursuit after them, settling easily into the bounding run of a Lion going after his prey. I loved this form, there was no doubting that. It had its inconveniences, but oh boy was it my favourite one of them all.<br>The Hyenas knew this gorge better than any of us did though, even with Roxas periodically providing a direction to go after them, and it wasn't long before we lost them. Scar's howl echoed out just after that, and I knew that would probably be the last we saw of them for now.  
>Neither of those things slowed me down though, which meant that the others had to keep up. I did slow down enough to let them catch up every now and then, but otherwise I just enjoyed the seemingly tireless running. This was a much faster and better way to get around.<br>With that speed behind us though, we made our way to what's known as the Elephant Graveyard in short order, only to find Nala trying badly to fend off some Living Bone Heartless. These strange Heartless are slightly related to the Lance Soldiers in that they're both comprised of two separate entities – in the case of the Lance Soldiers, you have the Lance and the Soldier, while the Living Bone is some kind of reanimated creature with a Shaman on its back.  
>Since as before I was the one effectively leading the charge, I opened our assault on the Heartless by making a leap for the Shaman on top of the nearest one, shoving it off the back of the actual Living Bone itself. The Keyblade was swiftly called to hand, or rather to mouth, and I awkwardly finished off the Shaman to deprive that particular one of most of its power. Roxas and Demyx quickly followed suit, though Demyx lacked a weapon to finish off the Shaman, instead settling for grabbing it by the neck and throwing it around viciously until it vanished. It looked sort of like a dog with a chew toy actually, though if anyone ever tries to tell Demyx I said that I'll deny I was even thinking that.<br>As Goofy was not a Lion like the rest of us, he simply smashed into the Living Bones that we'd removed the Shamans from, neatly tidying up after us. Nala quickly understood the tactics we were employing, and joined in with more ferocity than any of us. If you ever want a real fight with any of the big cats, it's nearly always the females you want to watch out for, believe me.  
>That fight did not last long with four Lions destroying the Shamans before we turned on the Living Bones that Goofy hadn't destroyed by then. Once that had been done, Nala quickly backed away from us, clearly ready for another fight.<br>"Wait just a moment!" I said, trying to stop her. "We're not here to cause trouble. We're here to help."  
>"Prove it," Nala snarled at me. I later found out this slightly different reaction was due to the apparent age of Roxas, Demyx and me – the pride did not want a trio of juvenile Lions trying to muscle in on their females, no matter how much they might have disliked Scar.<br>"Simba is alive," I told her simply. "And I know where to find him."  
>Nala went from a growling Lioness ready to attack, to a shocked Lioness that looked almost as if she couldn't believe what I'd just said. Given the situation there, I can't say I blame her.<p> 


	46. Reunited Cats

**A/N:** Whoops. Somehow this chapter ended up being the entire story instead of just this chapter. Fixed it now (obviously) but I guess that'll teach me to double-check next time I'm in a hurry, huh?

* * *

><p>Nala and I both knew the way to the oasis where Simba would be, and so we lead the way over the great plains toward Wildebeest Valley. If I'd been human, even running it would have taken ages to cross those plains, but like this? I felt like I could have covered them several times over and still have energy for more.<br>As we approached the crevasse that marks the entrance to the valley, neither she or I slowed in the slightest, taking the jump at a dead run. We cleared it easily, closely followed by Roxas, then Goofy – though how he managed it I'm not entirely sure – and then after we gave him some encouragement to get him over his apprehension, Demyx joined us at last and we were off again.  
>More of the Living Bone Heartless showed up within the valley, though now that we had the tactics to fight them off easily they posed no threat at all.<br>On the other hand, the centaur-like Assault Rider Heartless, normally native to the Land of Dragons, were a little more troublesome to handle. Their long spears made it difficult for us to get close to them until we worked together to take them down one by one. Demyx and Nala, lacking the Keyblades Roxas and I had, distracted one each, while Roxas and I circled around behind to attack their rear flanks.  
>At this point our strategies diverged, as Roxas favoured snapping at the legs until they ploughed to the ground, then leaping up on their back to batter away with the Keyblade. I on the other hand didn't bother with the legs, instead using my claws to dig into the sides until I was on their backs, then I went straight for the neck. Both ways worked, though I have to say they weren't exactly flavour of the month. Heartless never are really, but you're not supposed to eat them.<br>When we entered the wastelands between Wildebeest Valley and the Oasis, Rafiki was waiting for us, leaning on his staff. To my surprise, let alone that of the others, he gave me a deeply respectful bow with a strangely mischievous grin, then turned to Nala.  
>"It is time," he told her. "Trust the Seeing Lion." Apparently that meant me. Don't ask me how he knew about me, I don't know. My guess is he has some magic of his own that told him.<br>"Seeing Lion?" she asked him. Rafiki just gestured to me.  
>"Have I ever given anyone reason <em>not<em> to trust me?" I grinned. "Let's go. It's not far now."  
>"Sora, you realize Simba isn't going to recognise you," Roxas pointed out as we continued.<br>"Naturally. But he can't fail to remember my name or my voice, and once he remembers me it shouldn't be too much trouble to persuade him to come with us."  
>"I think you're a bit optimistic there. Anyway, would you uh... mind if I didn't join you?"<br>"Something wrong?"  
>"I don't know if he'll remember me."<br>"Roxas, you've never been here before."  
>Roxas somehow managed to look faintly embarrassed, his tail twitching nervously, then finally he veered off suggesting for me to do the same. I let the others know we'd be right back, then joined him.<br>"What do you know of Simba's past, Liam?" he asked me, using my real name where no one else would hear.  
>"I'm assuming you're talking about the wildebeest stampede in which Scar caused Mufasa's death, and Simba watched it."<br>"Yeah. That's the one. I... mighta been involved in that stampede slightly."  
>"Roxas, what did you do?"<br>"It wasn't entirely my idea," he said defensively. "One of the times I got into trouble with Saïx... well, he decided that since there were no Heartless around to nick the Hearts from, he'd drag me along to help with a personal mission."  
>"You mean Saïx actually left the castle?" I asked sardonically. "I'm amazed already."<br>"Stop that. Anyway, he made an alliance with Scar, and since I was already in trouble and in an unfamiliar world, I pretty much had to do what Saïx wanted me to."  
>"And he told you to cause a stampede." Roxas just nodded. "You know yourself most of what you did with the Organization wasn't entirely right, Roxas."<br>"Yeah, but how many times did it result in the loss of a life, Lee? Heartless and Nobodies can be restored to their original beings, even if it does need a lot of work, but can anything bring back the dead?"  
>"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known it was going to happen. At least, I'm assuming so, Saïx didn't tell you why he wanted the stampede did he?"<br>"No, I found that out afterwards."  
>"Well, there you go. One more reason to join in the fun when we beat up Saïx."<br>"Just why do you want to hurt him so much? I've never understood."  
>"You mean besides the fact he's one of the few members who've attacked you, he's rude, has an attitude problem and is a lunatic besides."<br>"I guess you'd rather not mention his claymore, huh?"  
>"It's just another big blade," I shrugged. "He might be skilled with it, but I'm already planning ahead for that battle, and I guarantee he isn't going to be coming out of that one."<br>"You could say the same for any of the other members," Roxas pointed out.  
>"True, except for Axel. I think I'm going to see if I can spare him too. Now, why don't we catch up with the others? I'll race you!"<br>"You're on!"  
>I couldn't say which of us won that little race. It was too close to tell, but it wasn't really about the winning I guess.<br>We caught up with the others just as they entered the oasis. Nala then insisted the rest of us wait while I went on ahead to find Simba and talk with him. There were Heartless there, but Simba's roar eliminated them so easily I was almost envious of his ability to handle them just like that.  
>"Simba!" I called up to him, approaching around the lake.<br>"Who's there?" he snarled, turning to look, and clearly ready for a fight. After seeing how easily he handled the Heartless, I couldn't help but be a little afraid – he was bigger than I was, and undoubtedly stronger.  
>"It's me, Simba – Sora. Remember me?"<br>Simba approached warily, looking me over and sniffing my scent, but then finally seemed to recognise me by pouncing on me playfully. It looks rough when you see Lions playing, but it isn't really.  
>"I'd hoped you'd visit," he told me once we'd calmed down a bit. "But where are your friends? Donald and Goofy?"<br>"They're... well, I don't know about Donald. Something happened to him, but I'm working on that. Goofy isn't far away, he's with two other friends of mine, Roxas and Demyx. There's someone else you know with them."  
>"Who?"<br>"You'll see. Don't make any hasty choices though."  
>"Would I do a thing like that?" he asked me innocently, so close to how I would have said it that I had to laugh again. That was cut short though, by the call for help from Timon, followed another from Pumba.<br>"I kinda hoped she wouldn't do that," I said, more to myself as he and I headed off in our own impromptu race to reach them.  
>"You know who's threatening them?"<br>"Yeah, and it's a misunderstanding. Cut that out!" I called ahead. "They're his friends!"  
>"But Sora-" Nala started to protest, but then she stopped. "Simba," she murmured. "Is that you?"<br>Simba didn't need me to tell him who he was seeing.  
>"Would you guys excuse us for a bit?" he asked, then not waiting for a reply the two of them wandered off back into the oasis. I sat watching them, in case I had to intervene. I shouldn't need to, but I wanted to be sure.<br>"He's not just gonna leave us with three lions like this, is he?" Timon demanded.  
>"Relax," Roxas told them. "No one's planning to eat either of you. We're friends of Sora's, and Sora's a friend of Simba."<br>"Roxas, I need you a moment," I said absently.  
>"The answer's no," he sighed. "Just wait until morning, he'll come around."<br>"I wish you wouldn't do that."  
>"Now you know how everyone else feels when you do it to them."<br>"Yeah, but there's a difference. That's not what was I going to ask anyway."  
>Roxas rolled his eyes skyward, muttering, "Why me? Your first question was going to be if you needed to do anything to persuade him to go back to the pride so he could take his place as the King of the Lions, and your section question was going to be if you needed to keep an eye on him overnight. And the answer's still no. Leave him alone, Sora. He just needs time to himself."<br>"I guess we got time to spare then. I don't suppose you'd care to help us with a snack?" I asked Timon, who looked suddenly afraid. "_Finding _a snack," I corrected myself quickly.  
>Since we had to wait until morning anyway, and there wasn't going to be any interruptions in that time, once we'd had a decidedly vegetarian snack we had time to spare and do anything we wanted. Demyx chose to use that time to doze in the sun, though later on he showed off his capabilities by playing with the water in the lake. Timon found a small flat twig and actually started trying to surf on the raised water Demyx created. A strange sight, that's for sure.<br>Goofy also lounged around, until Roxas and I asked him to be a kind of judge for the two of us. With him keeping watch on us, the two of us had mock battles with our Keyblades to help us get used to fighting with them while in this form.  
>When it got late though, we all quit our various amusements and settled down for the evening. Being able to curl up like cats can is something I do wish I could do naturally. It's comfortable like that, and left me ready to strike at any threat that came at me from any side.<br>"Sometime, you and I are going to have to have a fight as ourselves," Roxas murmured to me.  
>"Memory Skyscraper," I yawned back.<br>"What if I want to test you earlier, huh?"  
>"So long as you warn me in advance."<br>"Where's the fun in that?"  
>"You know something?" I asked him, rolling over to look at him. "You're sounding more and more like me."<br>"I know," he grinned back. "I figure I didn't get nearly enough fun while I was busy with the Organization, so I'm making up for it now, and what better example to nick from than my own Somebody, huh?"


	47. King of the Lions

It'd been a fair time since I'd had a decent _and_ natural sleep. Occasionally I'd catch a quick catnap when on the quieter parts of travelling around by Gummi Ship, but a proper night's sleep? I think the last time I'd had one of them was just before I got myself into all this.  
>I'm used to getting by on short sleep though – two hours is fairly normal for me – but even so, I still need a longer one. It wasn't surprising to find that I was the last one up because of that. Waking up to seeing Roxas curled up nearby watching me almost made me think I was dreaming again, but then I remembered where and what I was in time.<br>"Simba?" I asked, giving a massive yawn.  
>"He hasn't turned up yet," Roxas told me. "Timon went looking for him when Nala said she was heading back over to Pride Rock, and Pumba organized some breakfast. Vegetarian again, but can't be helped."<br>"I hate eating healthy," I grumbled. "Makes me feel like a rabbit."  
>"Odd point of view, for someone who's far from in bad health normally. And I'm not talking about when you look like Sora either."<br>"Yeah, well, I don't normally eat healthy even then. If I want to eat something that isn't good for me, then on my own head be it. I don't need someone who's spent half their life telling me I can't have something I want just because there's some small chance it might do something to me. What business is it of theirs what I eat?"  
>"You're really a very opinionated person, aren't you?" he observed.<br>"I just have my views, and I don't like people changing them. I like my way. Is there any particular reason you're making a pest of yourself this morning?"  
>"I got bored with watching Demyx do his party tricks with water, and Goofy's off with Pumba. Since Nala went back, and Timon's with Simba, I didn't have anyone else to see."<br>I gave him a sidelong glance, recognising the same signs of something not said that I've seen so often in my own face before now. If you know what to look for, the signs are easy to spot.  
>"What else?"<br>"I saw something," he said after a long silence. "Saïx has Kairi, but he has two others. I couldn't see who, I just know there are others with her. I get the strong feeling he's going to try to use them to get at you just like he does Sora."  
>I nodded, "I thought he'd do something like that. Saïx knows a lot more than he lets on, and I wouldn't put it past him to have some idea of the truth about me. If that's so, then the other two could be-"<br>"Sora and your boyfriend," Roxas finished.  
>"Exactly. No offence intended to you Roxas, but Nobodies are kinda limited in creativity, so I'm betting Saïx is going with the same plan he should do anyway, and that means we know what will happen, therefore nullifying the effect he wants."<br>"Interesting perspective, but if we're right, are they going to understand?"  
>"I don't know. Between that and what they might do, those are the only unknowns in the situation. I trust Sora to keep them from doing anything stupid, but he does lack the foresight you and I have."<br>"That's not all I saw though. I always get these things in pairs, I don't know why. At least the second was slightly better."  
>"What did you see?"<br>"Xehanort at the computer in Hollow Bastion. He had some kind of text thing up."  
>I sighed. Roxas might have a few qualities I don't, but I'm much better with computers than anyone except possibly Cid is here, and lets just say I have trouble keeping my patience with people who can't explain properly.<br>"Describe it, Roxas. What was on there?"  
>"It said something like, Ansem, a few symbols, then Hollow Bastion, and a squiggle. It asked for a password, which he entered, then the squiggle changed to something like a tic-tac-toe grid."<br>For those who don't know anything about Linux or similar operating systems, what he's just described is a normal user switching to the root user, aka Superuser or administrator.  
>"Did you see what he entered as the password?" I asked, knowing that if I had the same password, I'd have complete and unrestricted access to Ansem's computer. Dangerous, to be sure, but also exceptionally powerful and with potentially limitless value once I was inside Space Paranoids – with or without the changes Sora had made much earlier on.<br>"Terra, I think."  
>"Makes sense. Xehanort the apprentice was created from Master Xehanort and Terra. Maybe the part of him that's Terra subconsciously provided it."<br>"I assume this is useful somehow."  
>"Maybe," I said, keeping this little gem to myself for now. "We'll see later."<br>I had no idea how long it'd be before Simba finally decided he was ready to take on Scar with us, but we didn't have to wait long. He gathered the others up before he finally came to see me and Roxas, and he had a chain hanging around one ear.  
>"It's for your Keyblade," he told me without any preamble. "Mufasa left it with me last night. He also said it comes with a condition."<br>"And?" I asked.  
>"He wants you to expose Scar. Nala's gone on ahead to talk to Rafiki. He'll ensure the rest of the pride will recognise and believe you, so pick your words carefully when you get there."<br>"Mufasa is a wiser lion than I am," I laughed wryly. "Looks like even after he's gone, he's still looking out for his pride. Alright, I accept his condition – I'll expose him. Roxas... no that won't work."  
>"Yes, it will," Roxas sighed. "You just need me to do it for you. Leave it to me."<br>Simba looked from him to me.  
>"Roxas knows what I'm planning. It's more aimed at the pride than any of us, but it'll get the truth out, and that'll strip Scar of his credibility. Just watch your timing," I told Roxas, awkwardly replacing the chain on my Keyblade to change it from Hero's Crest to the Circle of Life. A little boost to the magic, and my magic would recharge quicker once I ran out. Useful for the kind of battles where I'd fall back on Cure magic a lot.<br>There was little more to say. There were Heartless on the way back, just as there had been on the way here, but with Simba at our side they barely slowed us down in the slightest.  
>We did slow when we emerged back onto the plains.<br>"We're gonna fight your uncle for this?" Timon demanded from behind Simba's head as he looked out over them. They were recognisable of course, but as all the herds had moved on, the land was dying out – just like those who were still here.  
>"Yes, Timon," Simba confirmed. "This is my home. If you and Pumba want to go back, you can. Nala should have told the others to leave you alone, but the Hyenas have made no such promise."<br>"We're in this together, Simba!" Pumba insisted. "If you go, so do we!"  
>While they discussed this, I moved over beside Roxas.<br>"Sure you've got this right?" I murmured.  
>"Trust me," he grinned back. "The others know what to do as well, so all you've got to worry about is your performance."<br>"Thanks," I muttered, then joined Simba again as we left. "I've got a plan, Simba."  
>"You want to charge in and throw him off Pride Rock for me?" he suggested.<br>"Don't be silly, if I did that I'd have to be King. Tempting as that is, there are other things I'm meant to do. All I'm suggesting is that you hang back until the right moment. Roxas should be able to tell you when, and if not... well, I trust you."  
>"You're hanging a lot on the timing of others. Are you sure this will work?"<br>"Trust me," I grinned at him, almost identical to how Roxas had at me.  
>Simba wasn't easy to keep hidden, but a handy rock just inside the demesnes of the Lion's pride kept him out of sight with Roxas and Goofy. Timon and Pumba hid behind Simba, not wanting to take any chances.<br>I on the other hand strode into Pride Rock proudly and confidently, every inch a Lion, even if I wasn't fully grown. The lionesses _definitely_ noticed that, and that in turn caught the attention of Scar, who jumped down to stand in my path.  
>"And you are you, little lion?" he purred at me, starting to circle around me. "A lone but very brave young lion that thinks he can take out this old lion and the pride for his own?"<br>"Maybe," I answered, speaking as clearly as I could. "Or maybe I'm the lion that brings the truth."  
>Everyone in the area now had their full attention on me. Scar stopped stock still in front of me.<br>"The truth about what, little lion?"  
>"The name is Sora," I told him. "And I know the truth about what happened at Mufasa's death."<br>The silence was almost tangible.  
>"Mufasa slipped and fell," Scar growled at me, a growl that set the fur on the back of my neck on end. "The Wildebeest herd trampled him. Nothing more."<br>"You're lying. You were there, Scar. You made him fall. You murdered him."  
>Scar roared, and I fought the urge to run for cover, knowing full well that one on one my chances were not good. But I held my ground, and then as his faded, I gave my own roar. Nothing on the same scale as his, that was for sure, but it had the required effect.<br>"What was that, Sora?" Scar chuckled. "Was that supposed to be a terrifying roar? Why don't you try that again?"  
>I smirked, inside hoping either Simba or Roxas would pick up on what Scar had said, then mimicked a roar without actually making one. Simba's own roar shattered the air, and some of Scar's confidence waned.<br>"Behold!" I called out loudly. "I give you Simba, the _true_ Lion King!"  
>On cue, Simba stalked into view, eyes locked on Scar. He was not looking friendly. Just behind him, Demyx and Roxas followed with Pumba, Timon on his back. Simba and I stood side by side when he stopped, with the three of them behind us.<br>"Simba!" Scar exclaimed, surprised. "You're... uh..."  
>"Alive?" he growled. "Is that what you were going to say?"<br>"Must this all end in violence? I'd hate to be responsible for the death of a family member, Simba."  
>"You already are," I told him. "Weren't you listening?"<br>"You lie, you loathsome little pest!" Scar spat at me. "No one here believes you!"  
>"Try again, Scar!" Nala's voice rang out from above. She stood proud on a higher rock, Rafiki at her side. "Everyone knows Sora is the Lion that can see past, present and future!" A bit of an overstatement, but most of this was an act, after all. Why not play to the audience?<br>Through all of this I had been keeping my ears open, listening behind us. When I heard the faint clicking of the Hyena's claws, I prepared to turn to fend them off so Simba could catch Scar.  
>Instead though, Roxas snapped, "Now, Demyx!"<br>A dome of water formed over Scar, Simba and me, while a quick glance behind revealed a similar one created to contain the three Hyenas with Roxas inside. I didn't hear what Roxas said to them, but the Hyenas suddenly looked very afraid.  
>I focused on Scar then. Simba started circling around him one way, while I went the other. Scar made the choice to focus on the greater threat – Simba. I knew he'd do that, and I took advantage of it, waiting until he was about to launch an attack on Simba, then taking a bite out of him near his back leg. He turned on my, snapping very close to me but missing because Simba bit into one front leg, bringing his attention back again. The pride quickly got clear of the area, because once Roxas had run off the Hyenas, allowed to leave by Demyx, they also joined in. Scar was able to handle any one of us except Simba alone, but all together he couldn't handle it. We drove him back to the edge of a rock, then backed off, allowing Simba to do what he had to – this was his fight, not ours.<br>Some might say that Simba's choice of finishing Scar was unjust even for him, but to my mind it's a fitting end to let him fall to his death just as he caused Mufasa to. True, his was simply from a great height, and not also trampled, but it has a certain poetic justice to it.  
>Simba thanked us for our help, then we made our excuses and headed back onto the plains before we left. Mostly because at least Roxas and I didn't want to give up being separate here, or being lions, but also because I had yet to unlock the local Keyhole.<br>Mufasa said nothing when he appeared to me, but he didn't really need to say anything to convey his gratitude for what we'd done, and so with the Pride Lands done with for now, I unlocked the Keyhole with him, and it was time to move on, however reluctantly.


	48. Troubleshooting Hollow Bastion

On returning to the Gummi Ship, Chip and Dale contacted us to let us know that Twilight Town was accessible again, so naturally we wanted to find out what was different there. With no routes to open to reach it, there was little to be concerned about on the way.  
>"Didn't you tell me you had a warning about Twilight Town?" I breathed, hoping Roxas was paying attention.<br>_Just Saïx. At the time, all I was getting was a hint he was going to do something different, now I've figured it out and we can take advantage of it. Seifer and company aren't just going to get attacked by Dusks, there are going to be my Samurai Nobodies there too, taking orders from Saïx because they think I've been destroyed like the other Nobodies. So if you call on me and let me take over from you as well, I can take command of them back, and if you don't mind I'll also confront Saïx for you.  
><em>"Sure you can handle him?"  
><em>Trust me. I know what I'm doing. Just tell the others to leave things to me, and make sure Demyx keeps me between him and Saïx.<br>_I relayed that to Demyx, letting the others know what was going to happen. Since we knew where the attack was going to take place, when we arrived at Twilight Town I had us appear in the Usual Spot, not far from the sandlot.  
>Vivi ran past calling for help, which we ignored since we already knew, then headed down into the sandlot. There were Dusks there right now, gathered around Seifer, Rai and Fuu. We quickly drove them back, though as the Dusks were destroyed, Samurais began to take their places. We tried to avoid fighting them where possible until all the Dusks were gone.<br>"Alright, Roxas," I said, ducking under a strike a Samurai made. "It's your show now!"  
><em>I thought you'd never ask,<em> he responded as I called on him. As I was turning over control to him, I took on his appearance as well again.  
>The Samurais stopped dead when they saw their former commander before them, my Keyblade in one hand, Zexion's Book of Retribution in the other, and Marluxia's scythe hovering in the air behind him.<br>"What are you doing?" he demanded of his Nobodies. "Taking orders from Saïx? Didn't I warn you about him?"  
>Somehow the Samurais managed to look abashed.<br>"Impressive," Saïx's voice noted. "Even though you gave up your form, you cooperate with Sora closely enough to return through him."  
>"You could learn a lot from him," Roxas replied, putting himself between him and Demyx. "Though I know you won't."<br>"Perhaps. I see he did not destroy Demyx. How inconvenient."  
>"Sora had his reasons for sparing him. He and Axel may be the only two Nobodies to come out of this in one piece."<br>"Speaking of Axel-"  
>"Forget it. I'm not here to tell you where to find him."<br>"This uncooperative attitude is not going to help you, Roxas."  
>"Ooh, scary," Roxas sneered. "What are you going to do, punish me for it? I don't work for you any more!"<br>"Perhaps. Do let Sora know he's doing well, won't you? We appreciate every last one he gives us."  
>"He already knows. Now why don't you <em>try<em> to leave?" He opened the Book of Retribution, dismissing the Keyblade as he did so. "And we'll see just how good you really are."  
>Saïx opened a corridor behind him, but Roxas created an illusion, masking the original corridor and replacing it with three more, further behind.<br>"Nice try," Saïx smirked, then stepped back to where the real one was. He did not disappear into it, hidden though it was. He froze, the smirk slipping from his face, then turned to look.  
>"Hey, Saïx," Roxas called. "Never turn your back on your enemy."<br>The scythe behind swung down, catching Saïx's side, then turning to get his other side. It then turned in the air, swinging again to create a shockwave that shoved Saïx hard, just as the illusion cancelled itself out. Saïx disappeared, his corridor with him.  
>"Did that actually do anything?" Demyx asked him.<br>"Of course it did. Don't you remember anything about dark corridors? If you're not in complete control when you enter, all the protection in the world won't keep you safe from the effects. He's in for a _very_ rough ride back. Alright – I'm done. Back to you, Sora," he added, then the form cancelled itself out. Roxas might be able to borrow the Drive forms to come back, but it's always with a limited time just like any real form. The Samurais remained nearby, giving the impression they were watching me curiously.  
><em>Just tell them to stay out of trouble until you or I call on them,<em> Roxas told me. _They'll work for both of us now.  
><em>I passed that on to them, causing them to disappear en masse.  
>"Alright, now how about you get outta my town now?" Seifer demanded.<br>"Is that the thanks we get?" I demanded in return. "I just saved you, and this is how you treat us? How about I beat some sense into you instead?"  
><em>Must you always go around getting yourself into trouble? I did just get you out of one bit of trouble...<br>_But Seifer appeared to appreciate this, and instead held out the trophy for the struggle tournament.  
>"Here. This goes to the strongest guy in Twilight Town."<br>"You know it's not official until I beat you in a struggle match," I told him, taking it off him.  
>"Forget it. You'd never stand a chance."<br>"Oh yeah? Wanna prove that?"  
>"Maybe when the tournament rolls around. Don't you dare miss it," he warned me, then the three of them left.<br>Pence showed up at that point, and we headed up to the station to hear the tale of how Kairi showed up from Hayner. I played along once more, even though Kairi knew I wasn't Sora, but only a few others outside of her knew the same, so I had to keep on pretending I had Sora's interest in her. Of course I was concerned too, but I knew what was going to happen.  
>Goofy dropped the trophy, though it was because it slipped from his hands instead of any outburst of mine. The crystals scattered, which everyone scrambled for. I caught the blue one, which before I had the chance to hold it up, rose up to unlock the keyhole nearby.<br>This cut out a fair bit of what normally happens, but since there was very little else to happen here, I had no trouble with this.  
>We promised we'd come back, and that we'd find Kairi and stop by with her, then it was back on the road for us. As soon as we were aboard the Gummi Ship again, we saw the darkness trying to block access to Hollow Bastion, so quickly headed there before it managed to keep us out completely.<br>A troop of Soldiers headed up the stairs, saw us, then disappeared. Just after them, a group of Dusks did the same.  
>"Maybe we should check in with Merlin," I suggested. "And Cloud along the way."<br>We restocked while in the marketplace, though there wasn't actually much to stock up on. Goofy picked himself up another new shield, but I wasn't really paying attention. I checked up on Scrooge to see if he'd managed to re-create the sea-salt ice cream, only to realize I could have just picked some up while I'd been in Twilight Town if I wanted to try some. I'm forever doing things like that.  
>Cloud found me while I waited for Demyx and Goofy to finish shopping. The Moogles had apparently gotten wind of Demyx's change of loyalties, and had started stocking weapons for him as well, so the two of them were involved in trying to decide which was their best choice.<br>"You're back," Cloud noted. "Can I bother you for a moment?"  
>"What's this?" I asked in mock incredulity. "You need me?"<br>Cloud smiled faintly. "I need to know if you've seen him."  
>"Sephiroth? No. But don't be discouraged. He'll be around soon. Not just yet, but I know he'll be around soon."<br>"Thanks, Sora. I knew I could count on you to tell me what I needed to hear."  
>"Don't mention it. Just watch out for yourself, 'kay? And don't push Aerith away – you're like me, your friends are a big part of your strength. Let them help you."<br>"It won't work," he shook his head. "I can't go back, not until I've defeated Sephiroth."  
>"You can't defeat him if you don't let your friends help – Tifa especially. Trust me, Cloud. I know what I'm talking about, and you won't be able to do it if you turn her away."<br>"I'll... think about it," he finished grudgingly, turning away.  
>As he left me, I thought for a moment to remember what was going to happen on this visit.<br>_Space Paranoids,_ Roxas reminded me. _Tron will explain the differences.  
><em>That solved that problem. When Demyx and Goofy rejoined me, we continued on, pausing at Merlin's house to lean in, let them know I already knew what they'd found, and head onward to find Leon.  
>The Gullwings showed up along the way, and I decided letting them know what Leon was up to was harmless enough for now, even if they were reporting back to Maleficent. She wouldn't be doing anything about it, so why worry?<br>After the trek through the corridors beneath the actual castle of Hollow Bastion, we reached Ansem's study, a picture of Xehanort on the wall. The resemblance to his Heartless was uncanny, but there were a few differences. Xehanort the apprentice appeared to be a much more good-natured person if this portrait was anything to go by.  
>Tifa showed up, looking for Cloud. Like Sora, when she mentioned the spiky hair, I just tugged on my own. Well, why not? I didn't see any point to changing anything here, she and Cloud would have their reunion later on.<br>When she'd gone, I opened the way to the computer itself, with Leon stood nearby trying to make sense of it.  
>"Let me," I told him, coming into the room. "I know a bit more than you do. Just be ready to catch Stitch," I added, pointing to the little blue guy on the ceiling.<br>Computers are one of the few things you'll never get me to give up. Alright, so I'm not the best with them, but that doesn't mean I'm unskilled. I love to experiment with them, which usually breaks stuff as many people will tell you. But on the other hand, I more often find out things I never knew before, and find new ways of doing things.  
>So Ansem's computer was just another interesting challenge to me. Roxas had seen the root password being entered, and that gave me immediate and as expected, unrestricted access. I set up a few tools I'd hoped I'd be able to call on once inside Tron's world, setting them up very carefully so no one other than me could use them. I didn't want the MCP to steal them.<br>Then I went to work on locating a few certain important programs, humming to myself as I worked.  
>"What are you actually doing, Sora?" Leon asked me.<br>"At the moment? Investigating the system. There's a few things I want to look at before I attract attention to myself."  
>The terminal showed me a list of programs, just as I'd asked it to. Among them were Sark, Tron and the MCP. Along with one other unexpected one – Flynn. If you've seen either the original Tron movie, or Tron: Legacy, you know who Flynn is. For those who haven't, Flynn was involved in the company that created the system Ansem copied for his usage, and ended up inside the same world I'd be going to, helping Tron delete the MCP.<br>This was intriguing. Flynn wasn't meant to be here – unless Ansem had copied the system during the time when Flynn had been inside the computer, and that could have some interesting results. I added another script to the collection of tools I'd written that would activate Flynn's program, but only if both Tron and I were there. Again, not something I wanted the MCP to do.  
>"Attract attention from what?" Demyx wondered aloud as I was doing this.<br>"The MCP," I replied. "The Master Control Program that used to be just a feeble chess program originally, but started stealing from other programs in order to become what it is now. If it notices me poking around, it's going to try and stop me. Leon, you might want to get clear – Demyx and Goofy will probably want to come with me when we get sent to Space Paranoids in a moment, but I think you'll want to stay out here in the real world."  
>"Why not keep off it's radar, Sora?" Leon suggested, prudently following my advice.<br>"Because I can't activate the program that'll send us into that world myself. I don't know exactly how it works, or the commands to do so, but if I can goad the MCP into doing it for me, then I can trace the command it used so we can come and go safely, whenever we need."  
>Now I started randomly accessing the available information, going for files that it told me I would have needed clearance for if it wasn't for my liberal use of the root password. I reasoned that if going for the restricted stuff didn't get it's attention, then all I had to do was try to terminate the processes it was running.<br>It didn't come to that though.  
>"Attention current user!" its voice crackled from the speakers, making everyone else jump. "This is a warning. Further attempts to access restricted information will result in immediate defensive action."<br>"Ah, the Master Control Program," I answered, not letting up. "So nice of you to stop by. I rather think that while you oversee this system, you're also incredibly limited in what you can do to me."  
>"Cease your activities immediately or-" it paused as I entered a few more commands. "Stop that!" it commanded me.<br>"What's the problem, Master Chess Program?" I taunted it. "Can't handle a few unsolvable equations? You're up against a real User now, and you're out of your league."  
>"Are ya sure you should be doing that?" Goofy asked me, sounding afraid.<br>"Trust me – I know what I'm doing."  
><em>I hope you're right.<br>_"Don't you start too," I muttered in response, sending another few unsolvable questions to the MCP – the sort of questions like 'Calculate Pi to the end of it's length' or giving it an equation that appears to suggest that 1+1 does in fact equal 1. There's one tiny mistake in that equation, but I was gambling that the MCP, like most people, wouldn't notice it.  
>"Now entering restricted access mode," the MCP announced. In layman's terms, it stopped me from sending it any more unsolvable questions.<br>"What a shame," I gave a mock sigh. "And I was just beginning to have fun. Alright, try some of this," I told it, sending a command that would force it to halve the number of processes it used.  
>This worked, but did not slow it down significantly enough to disrupt it.<br>"Decision gate reached – you are now under arrest," the MCP told us.  
>"Oh yeah? You just wait," I told it, turning to face the aperture in the wall behind. It contained the laser that would digitize us into programs and transfer us into Space Paranoids. "You've picked the wrong User to mess with, MCP," I said, then it hit us with the laser.<br>I didn't get to see the neat little effect you see of everyone being digitized. Instead, my view turned into a serious of luminous blue circles, which shot toward me to dump us inside Space Paranoids.  
>Now the MCP would get to see what I was really capable of.<p> 


	49. Greetings, Programs!

Since all of my various tools, scripts and other useful little tricks had been encoded into files just waiting for me to access them, I looked no different to Sora when I entered Space Paranoids – for now. Goofy also took on his own data-form here, and Demyx's coat did not disappoint by interfering here. While it remained, it was covered in a similar layout of lines to my own, had given him a matching helmet, and allowed the coat itself to retain the red colour it had gained thanks to Sora and Roxas.  
>Where in this world we were, I could not yet tell. But I didn't really need to, because we were already surrounded by programs and Heartless that were blending in. Among them was Sark.<br>"So you are the User who has incurred the wrath of the MCP," he noted. "You do not appear to be much of a threat."  
>"You know you're working for a chess program, don't you?" I asked him.<br>"He has grown far beyond that. On his behalf I make you an offer. Turn over complete system access to him, and he will spare you."  
>"I'll destroy his program before I do any such thing."<br>"As expected. Take them away," he commanded the collected programs and Heartless. I called on only one of the Keyblades and got ready for a fight. "I advise against it," Sark said calmly.  
>"Yes, I expect you would. Watch this," I told him, then held my free hand, palm out. A small interface formed in the air around it, giving me an instant access terminal so I could activated several of the scripts.<br>With the first of them, the coloured circuits over me changed to a bright green, as did those on Demyx and Goofy. The second appeared at a glance to do nothing.  
>"Is that all?" Sark inquired, apparently unimpressed.<br>"Try some of this," I smirked back, closing the terminal, taking my own identity disk off my back and flinging it at Sark. He took out his own to block it, but not even that could stop the additional effect – a User-created blast of wind that had absolutely no effect on the three of us, but flung Sark's programs far away from us. The Heartless, released from his command with his distraction, attacked us, also unaffected by it. Sark continued to brace himself against that gale while we dealt with them.  
>However, as I'd neglected to create the wind as the root user instead of myself, it was left open for the MCP to kill. In the middle of the fight it suddenly died out, allowing Sark to pull out some kind of remote that sent a shock through the three of us, forcing us to the ground.<br>"You may be a User," Sark told me. "But here you are powerless to stop us. Confine them," he ordered what few programs had managed to return. With the data shock preventing our movement, there was little choice. Evidently I was going to have to take a few more precautions against this happening again.  
>Obviously, we ended up getting thrown into the Pit Cell before we were finally released again.<br>"Just where are we, who was he, and how did he do that?" Demyx demanded of me with an unusual flare of temper.  
>"His name is Sark," Tron told him, though we hadn't noticed him at first because he'd been behind the terminal in the cell. "And this is a computer system you're in. Sark and the MCP control things here – no one can oppose them."<br>"Not if I have anything to do about it," I muttered.  
>"I recognise you," Tron said, looking at me thoughtfully. "Another User lodged a message in my data for you. You're Sora, aren't you?"<br>"That's me. Mind if I use that terminal for a bit? I've got an idea. You can give me the message while I work."  
>Tron stepped clear of it to let me access it. All I actually wanted was to update a few of the tools I'd left myself to prevent Sark from interfering again. That, and reactivate Flynn.<br>"I haven't been able to interpret the message," Tron admitted. "But it isn't meant for me anyway. It reads, 'Both in the first, Clue in the second.'"  
>"Clue?" I repeated curiously. "Spelled with or without the e?"<br>"Without," he answered after a moment.  
>Clu. Codified Likeness Utility – a program created by Flynn to try and hack the system in the original Tron, and a second version of had become the ruler of the system seen in Legacy.<br>The first part of the message was just as clear – both the normal visits Sora would make here would be handled together in this one visit, and we'd have to do something about Clu in our second one.  
>"I understand," I said absently. "He's Tron, by the way," I introduce him to the others. "A security program under arrest. Tron, these are my friends – Goofy and Demyx."<br>"The message told me you'd know things you shouldn't, but it also said there would be a fourth one with you," Tron said hesitantly.  
>"Donald. He would have come with us, but something came up. There, that should do it. Now Tron, I'm going to bring a program online from storage. I want you to tell me if you recognise him, and introduce him. Everyone stand near the edges of the Cell; I haven't quite figured out how to place programs yet."<br>Or at all, actually, and I still don't. But the theory was sound, so I sent the commands that would launch Flynn. And in moments he appeared in the middle of the Cell.  
>"Greetings, Programs!" One of his trademark lines.<br>"Flynn!" Tron exclaimed. "Is it you?"  
>"Tron! What happened to me? My memory's a blank."<br>"I thought I knew, but now I'm not so sure. This system isn't the original one created at ENCOM, it's a copy. Maybe you got somehow copied over with it."  
>"I guess it's possible. And who're you guys?" he asked, turning to see us.<br>"I think they're Users, Flynn," Tron said. "Like you."  
>"We are," I confirmed. "Sora, Demyx and Goofy."<br>"You three oughta get outta here," Flynn advised. "The MCP isn't going to just let you wander around the system."  
>"The MCP and I are having our own disagreement. I fed it a few unsolvable questions to goad it into getting me into here just so I could get rid of it."<br>"You stole that idea from me," Flynn chuckled. "I did the same thing, but for different reasons."  
>"I know. Now, anyone for getting out of this cell and tracking down the MCP?"<br>"Just how do you plan to do that?"  
>"Like this," I smirked, then unlocked the barriers with my Keyblade. "Anyone care to join me?"<br>So now we had three Users, a copy of a User, and a Security Program together. As soon as they joined us, their circuits also turned the same green as ours. They seemed surprised by this, but made no comment on it. Flynn seemed unconcerned by it, and Tron appeared to trust that so also had no problem with it.  
>The only place we could go from here was to the Canyon.<br>"Sora, I think we've got a problem," Tron told me when we got there. "If you're planning to go up against the MCP, you'll need a power source under our control."  
>"You mean like energy core just in there?" I asked, nodding to the wall it was hidden behind.<br>"That's not all. A lot of my functions are still locked up in the DTD database. I'll need them too."  
>"No problem. We'll reactivate the energy core, I'll lock it out so only I can disable it, then I'll get the password for you." Actually, I already knew what the password was, but I wanted to have a word with Mickey, and if I remembered rightly, he'd show up soon.<br>We once more faced Heartless, but as usual they were no trouble. While Tron tended to fight at a distance by flinging his identity disk at them and only fight up close when he had to, Flynn favoured more closer ranged tactics, usually slamming his own disk into the faces of the Heartless. Which worked too, but I tried to keep the attention off him, since I didn't want him to get lost to a Heartless.  
>The energy core was easily reactivated, and another summoned terminal allowed me to lock it out. I could have used them more often, but their small size made them inconvenient for regular use. Small stuff was alright, provided I didn't try to get too elaborate.<br>Tron wanted us to head back to the Pit Cell so he could send us back to retrieve the DTD password, but I had other ideas and found my way to the dataspace itself. The terminal was active, but locked out, and to make it worse, even if I reactivated it, it would only be a one-way thing – the three of us could leave (it recognised Flynn as a program and not a User), we wouldn't be able to come in this way again.  
>"Do you know where to get the password?" Tron asked me?<br>"Naturally. Are you two sure you can handle anything that comes up?"  
>"Hey, who do you think we are?" Flynn asked. "Of course we can handle it!"<br>"I forgot who I'm dealing with," I laughed. "We'll be back in as soon as we've got it."  
>"Sora," Demyx said then. "If there's not going to be any trouble outside, why don't Goofy and I stay here?"<br>"What, growing tired with my company already?" I grinned. "It's up to you guys. I'm not going to be that long."  
>So I ended up going back by myself. Well, it made a change from having them always around, I guess.<br>Leon was waiting for me when I returned, examining the computer without much comprehension to him.  
>"Where have you been?" he asked me almost before I was fully back.<br>"Oh, nowhere. Just inside the computer."  
>"Inside... are you feeling alright?" he asked suspiciously.<br>"I'm fine, Leon. Just don't do anything to the computer. I've just got to find a password to access a database, then we'll be going to defeat the MCP and take control of the system."  
>"Do you know what you're doing?"<br>"Of course I know what I'm doing," I answered, heading back into Ansem's study.  
>"Goofy and your other friend not with you?"<br>"You mean Demyx, and no – they asked to stay behind with Tron and Flynn, since there isn't going to be any trouble while I'm out here and I'm not going to take long." When we entered, I took down the portrait of Ansem to reveal the sign behind.  
>"Main Security..." Leon read the faded words. "Hollow... Door to-"<br>"Door to Darkness – that's what Ansem named the database."  
>"Right, so what's the password for it?"<br>"Say, did somebody mention the Door to Darkness?" Mickey asked from the doorway.  
>"Sure did. Leon, can I ask you to check up with Cid and make sure the town's security systems are alright?" This was in part because I wasn't sure if the MCP would take over them while I was here, and also because I wanted to talk to Mickey with no one else around.<br>"But the password?" he insisted.  
>"Don't worry. I'll have it in a moment."<br>"I don't understand you, Sora. Half the time you sound like you're crazy." Then Leon left the room, once more muttering to himself about me. I closed the door after him.  
>"Alright Mickey, just how much did Yen Sid tell you?"<br>"More than enough," he replied. "Don't worry – I haven't told anyone, and, I'm not going to. Didn't he tell you himself?"  
>"It's been a while since then. I just wanted to be sure. Sorry I doubted you, I just..."<br>"You had to be sure. Like I said, don't worry. Anyway, that password-"  
>"Oh, I already know that," I said, waving a hand dismissively. "But if I hadn't come out to look, I wouldn't have found you here, would I?"<br>"Why, do ya need something from me?"  
>"Sort of. Actually I need to do something for you. I... made a bit of a mistake."<br>"You? I thought ya couldn't make any." He smiled as he said it, so I knew he wasn't being entirely serious.  
>"Be nice," I murmured, then continued, "When I went to Agrabah originally, I took Jafar's staff from him."<br>"Yup, I know – Yen Sid told me about that. He said it'd caused some changes that shouldn't have happened."  
>"Yeah... uh... they kinda did more than that. Donald got taken by Jafar the last time I went there, and Roxas insisted there was nothing we could do to get him back until the next time we're there."<br>"So you're apologising to me for that? You're gonna get him back, right?"  
>"Of course I am! I can't just leave him behind. If Roxas hadn't insisted otherwise, I'd have stayed to try and do it right there and then!"<br>"Then don't worry about it. I believe in you, Liam – you can get him back. Now go on – I'll help protect things here while you get that password to Tron."  
>"You know about Tron?"<br>"You're not the only one who can see more than other people," he answered cryptically. "Oh! I almost forgot. Lemme give you something else."  
>He touched his Kingdom Key to my clothes, making them briefly take on the appearance for Master Form, then sent me on my way.<br>_Nice of you to mention me,_ Roxas remarked along the way. _I've altered your Master form, by the way. Demyx can fill in for Donald, and when you get Donald back you'll be able to decide which two of the three you want to make use of.  
><em>"Does it make any difference to the form?"  
><em>A bit. Goofy with either of the others will give you a well-balanced one, but take Donald and Demyx and you'll get one that favours magic more than power. I'll do the same for Final form when you get that too.<br>_"Thanks, Roxas. What'd I do without you?"  
><em>I haven't a clue, but get on back – I've got a bad feeling starting to brew, and mine are just as accurate as yours.<em>


	50. Byte Bashing

When I got back to Ansem's computer it was a small matter to retrace the command that had been sent to the laser behind and repeat it to re-encode myself back into a program so I could return to Space Paranoids.  
>Immediately on arrival I noticed two things. Firstly I was back in the Pit Cell again, and secondly there was no one else around. Of course, in leaving Demyx and Goofy behind, they'd also been transferred to the grid to play the light-cycle game with Tron and Flynn, so I accessed the terminal and transferred myself there to join them.<br>It only took me a few moments to figure out how to create my own light cycle, and a few more to understand how it works. Turning took a little longer, since it's right angles or nothing, but before long I was following the trails from their own light cycles at speeds I would never have chanced in the real world.  
>I accessed my collection of tools once more and added another level to the Grid, bringing slopes and ramps to it so I could go up a level and see the whole scene. There were five red light cycles doing their best to force the four blue ones into a light trail, a wall or anything else. My own light cycle was considerably quicker than anyone else's, so I made use of that to get ahead of them. Two of the opponents were down before they realized what was happening, and I managed to join up with Flynn.<br>"Come to join in the fun?" he called to me.  
>"Wouldn't miss it for the world," I smirked back, then we veered off in separate directions to rescue the others from the remaining opponents. We worked together to eliminate one that were harassing Tron, who then in turn joined our own efforts in freeing up Demyx, then finally Goofy.<br>Sark evidently didn't take being beaten well, because then the grid became filled with Heartless instead. If we hit one of them at the kind of speeds these things went, it'd do more than just hurt.  
>But we weaved through and around them until the massive form of a Devastator Heartless showed up, the energy attack it launched at us deflected against the side of the wall to create the crack that warped us all safely back to the Pit Cell.<br>"Well that was fun," I noted casually.  
>"Fun!" Demyx exclaimed. "You call that fun! You left us behind to almost get de-whatever it was!"<br>"De-rezzed," Tron told him calmly. "Anyway, it was your idea to stay behind."  
>"He's got you there, Demyx," Flynn chuckled. "So, Sora. Did you get the password we need?"<br>"Sure did. We just have to make our way back to the Dataspace access to input it. Tron, you're going to need to change the password to something else at the earliest opportunity, otherwise Sark and the MCP will be able to use it to grow even more powerful."  
>"I know just the thing. But we've got a problem – the MCP noticed our original escape and deleted the transport to and from here."<br>"Oh, he did, did he?" I said, turning back to the terminal here. "Let's let him know it'll take more than that to stop us."  
>"What're you going to do?" Flynn asked me.<br>"Two things," I replied, already hard at work. "First I'm gonna lock out the I/O tower from remote commands, meaning if the MCP wants to load something into it, it has to be present."  
>"But the MCP doesn't move," Tron protested.<br>"Exactly. So it'll have to send Sark to do it, and if Sark tries to do it, I'm setting it to backfire on him – anything he tries to load in will turn on him. Secondly, I'm stealing us a Recogniser, which should be coming into view behind us any moment now.  
>A Recogniser did so, right on cue. In case you're wondering, or just don't know, Recognisers are one of the means of getting around in Space Paranoids. They look a bit like an upside-down letter 'U', but squarer.<br>Once we all boarded the Recogniser, we let Flynn take the controls after he mentioned he'd done this before, and we were on our way back to the canyon at least. We couldn't access the Dataspace directly because it was contained inside walls of more data, so we'd have to stop outside.  
>Landing the Recogniser turned out to be a bit of a challenge though, with most of it getting destroyed when Flynn accidentally rammed it into the side of the platform he was trying to park it beside. Enough of it remained on the platform to let us safely disembark and enter the Dataspace though.<br>"Alright," Tron said as we entered. "Just what is the password?"  
>"Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella, Kairi," I answered. "Might be that order, might not."<br>"I've got it memorized, so you won't need to remind me of them if it isn't that order," he told me, then started to access the larger terminal in here.  
>"Anyone care to place a bet on Sora being right first time?" Flynn asked while we watched Tron enter the names.<br>"Not when Sora's involved," Demyx replied. "He's ridiculously accurate with his guesses."  
>"Luck," I shrugged with a grin. "And if I'm right..."<br>"Now switching DTD over from hibernation to active mode," the computer announced. "This process will take some time. Please enjoy a game while the process is running."  
>"Yep, I was right. Get ready everyone, this is the last security routine. Clear me a path to each of the monitors so I can unlock them."<br>Easier said than done. Sark apparently was also paying attention and decided to add his own Heartless to the chaos, making it very difficult for any of us to make much progress. Flynn and Tron were just barely able to hold them off, as was I by myself, but Demyx and Goofy were struggling.  
>So I solved the problem by calling on Master form for the first time. Master form performs excellently when it comes to aerial attacks, and even more so when I got to pull off the combo finisher that acts much like a tornado, drawing in enemies to make them easy pickings. I made use of this differently here though, drawing them away so I could unlock the two back panels at once.<br>With that done, I descended on the densely packed mob of Heartless with almost reckless abandon, charging in with both Keyblades swinging, while Tron and Flynn picked off any that tried to stray.  
>My form cancelled out before I'd gotten more than half way through that mob, but with their numbers reduced and Demyx and Goofy back with us, we were able to eliminate it much more efficiently, allowing me to unlock the main panel and disarm the security systems.<br>Tron hurried back to the larger terminal, laying a hand on one panel. Light flowed through it into him, making him glow for a moment.  
>"Good as new!" he exclaimed happily. "All my functions have been restored."<br>"Tron, the password change," Flynn insisted. Tron turned back, trying to do it.  
>"I'm locked out – the MCP is on to us."<br>"Let me handle this then," I cut in, heading to the terminal and making use of the root password again to overrule the MCP's lockout, then changing the password to our names – with Demyx included.  
>"You have changed the password!" the MCP's voice boomed. "You have interrupted my take over of this system."<br>"Takeover?" I called to it. "Don't make me laugh. As long as any of us are still here, you'll never come anywhere near to taking over this system. You'll have to eliminate us all."  
>"That can be arranged," it told me, and a flash of light appeared behind us, clearing to reveal the Hostile Program.<br>"Oh yeah? Is that the best you've got, or have you forgotten who you're up against?"  
>The MCP did not reply, so I went fully to work now, loading several of the more powerful scripts and tools I'd written, giving myself more functions – and as seen when the MCP grants all of its own functions to Sark, the more functions, the bigger the program becomes. This time I was the one who became a giant, though my Keyblades did not scale up with me. I dismissed them, taking my identity disk from my back, then when I'd finished growing I delivered one single powerful blow on the Hostile Program, which fell to the ground twitching only to de-rezz moments later.<br>With that out of the way, I shrank back down again. It would have been dangerous, not to mention inconvenient for me to have remained like that, so I'd set careful limits on it just in case.  
>"Now, what do you all say we go track the MCP to its lair and delete it?" I suggested.<br>"Sounds like a plan to me," Flynn said. "Where do we start?"  
>"The Solar Sailor. Tron, can you fly it?"<br>"Of course I can, now I'm restored," Tron replied. "But how will we take on the MCP?"  
>"One thing at a time, my friend," I answered. "The Solar Sailor is just opposite here anyway."<br>Just like when Sora crossed the Sea of Simulation on the Solar Sailor, we had to defend it from Heartless attackers. Unlike then though, we cheated somewhat. Tron maintained the controls, while Demyx projected a barrier of water over the part of the Sailor where the Heartless could land, a barrier that would allow anything to pass through it outwards, but not inwards. Those Heartless that appeared within the dome of water were quickly manhandled out again and not seen from again, giving us a relatively trouble free journey to the MCP's mesa.  
>Sark was waiting for us when we entered the central area, where the giant red column of the MCP bathed the entire area in a red radiance.<br>"Tenacious little bugs!" he spat. "Your time us up. Prepare for immediate de-resolution!"  
>"You really think you can take on all five of us, Sark?" I asked. "Including me? A User with complete access to the system whenever I want it?"<br>Sark's response was to hurl his identity disk at me, which I caught on the tip of a Keyblade, then threw back at him with such force that he was knocked out instantly.  
>"That was almost too easy," Flynn said.<br>"It's not over yet. The MCP comes next. Has anyone ever told it that it's ugly?"  
>"Probably not."<br>"Sark!" the MCP called, the column slowing it's spinning to allow it to look at him. "Sark!" it called again.  
>"Give it up," I shouted back. "He's gone."<br>"Sark... all my functions are now yours! Eliminate them!"  
>"Bugger," I muttered. "Demyx, Goofy – destroy those barriers surrounding the MCP so Tron and Flynn can attack it. You two just need to keep on hitting the tiny red sphere where the upper and lower columns meet with your identity disks."<br>"And you'll deal with Sark?" Tron asked me.  
>"Oh yes. I'll deal with him."<br>The fight did not last all that long. I grew to giant proportions again to combat Sark, who was out matched and outclassed anyway and was quickly de-rezzed by me. That in turn allowed me to help eliminate the last of the barriers and contribute to the deletion of the MCP.  
>"Is <em>that<em> it?" Flynn asked afterwards.  
>"Pretty much," I replied. "Tron, don't you dare dive into there after the MCP," I told him. "You don't need to do it to do what you're thinking of. I'm sure I can leave this<br>system in your capable hands to care for, right?"  
>"Sure thing! Tron and I will create the perfect world here, free for everyone to use!"<br>_I have a bad feeling he's not just going to be right, but that he's also going to cause trouble with that,_ Roxas told me.  
>"You're probably right," I muttered back to him. "But at least it'll give us both an interesting challenge next time we're here."<p> 


	51. Xemnas's Offer

When we reappeared back before Ansem's computer, I found the keychain for Photon Debugger had been given to me along the way. Good one for areas where there's a lot of Heartless that are weak to thunder attacks, assuming you ever remember to use it.  
>Leon had not yet returned, so while we waited for him I accessed the DTD, originally intending to retrieve the limited data on the Organization and Ansem. The only files for the Nobodies that were intact were, of course, those who'd been lost at Castle Oblivion. While I still had no idea of what I'd done there, when I read those files I noted that there seemed to nothing that suggested whatever I might have done, so I relaxed a little and stopped worrying about the missing memories so much.<br>On the other hand, one of the files did provide handy links to the Somebodies that those Nobodies had once been, and more curiously to a file on Ventus himself. Though that file was also damaged and not fully readable, what was in there gave me something to think on, because it suggested there had not been three, but four apprentices to Master Eraqus – and there was nothing on this fourth one. More changes I'd wrought without realizing it? Even Roxas was silent on this.  
>"I see ya got it working then," Mickey observed, joining us.<br>"Naturally," I replied. "Your Majesty, do you remember Ventus at all?"  
>"Ventus? Hmm, lemme think..."<br>"About ten years ago. He was an apprentice under Master Eraqus. Here, there's an image of him on the computer," I added, showing him.  
>"Of course! I remember him now. Never did find out what happened to him."<br>"Was there someone else with him when you saw him?"  
>"I think so. In fact..." he frowned, then glanced at me thoughtfully. "But that's impossible. You'd remember that."<br>So somehow I'd been seen, as Sora with Ventus. Mickey was right, I would remember that if I'd done it. So what was going on here?  
>"Leave it with me and Roxas," I shook my head. "We'll figure it out sooner or later. Anyway, you need to find Ansem."<br>"Ansem?" Goofy said. "But didn't we defeat him?"  
>"Oh. I guess you never explained it to them, huh?" Mickey asked me.<br>"Slipped my mind," I replied ruefully. "Simply, it goes like this – we defeated Ansem, who was the Heartless of Xehanort, who went around telling people he was Ansem after he exiled the real Ansem, Ansem the wise. The leader of Organization Thirteen is Xemnas, the Nobody of Xehanort. If we defeat him too, then the original Xehanort is free to come back, and we can defeat him too, which should release Terra's heart and revive him." I frowned, then added, "In theory, at least."  
>"You knew where Terra's heart was all this time?" Mickey asked me. "You coulda saved Yen Sid and me a lotta work if you'd told him."<br>"Sorry. I guess I forgot you were looking. I could tell you where the others are too though."  
>"Don't worry about it for now. I don't think we're that close to having to do anything about it just yet."<br>Something exploded outside, shaking the room violently and almost making Mickey get thrown to the floor if I hadn't quickly grabbed hold just as it hit us.  
>"I think we'd better check up outside," I said when it subsided. "Just in case that was something serious."<br>_You don't say. Hope you're ready for a long fight, because that's what's headed your way.  
><em>How nice of him to warn me. I was starting to wonder if it wouldn't have been better not knowing these things in advance. Not that I don't like having to fight, that's Demyx's department – but I prefer to avoid having to do it for extended times, mostly because there's no break in between. Even if I don't need it.  
>Back outside, Maleficent stood clear of everyone else, watching the Heartless fight the Nobodies below her, but on noticing me she commanded the Heartless to attack me instead before she disappeared off. Apparently she didn't trust me not to repeat our last encounter with her. Can't say I blame her for that though.<br>Unexpectedly, the Gullwings came to our aid in that fight, having seen Maleficent take off and decided that it was no longer in their interests to work for her. A few words with them persuaded them not only to work with us and Leon, but without a single mention of treasure.  
>I was tempted to go looking for the Cavern of Remembrance along with the Garden of Assemblage inside there and then, but that could wait. It'd still be there – somewhere – after we'd handled this current crisis, so we pushed on to the Postern only to get attacked by Nobodies instead.<br>This time, it was Sephiroth who turned up to come to our aid, though unintentionally.  
>"Cloud is looking for you," I told him before he'd had a chance to say anything.<br>"Is that so?" he replied. "Then I should give him what he wants."  
>"You can repay me for telling you that first."<br>"Did I not just defeat those creatures for you?"  
>"They were just Dusks," I shrugged. "I've fought far worse than a bunch of weak Nobodies like them."<br>Sephiroth paused to think for a moment, then said, "Very well. I will... assist you in this battle. But only until the point Cloud finds me, or I him." And then he was gone. Well, if he honoured his word it would have done something, at least.  
>Once he had gone we headed onwards again, this time pausing at the Restoration Site to take out a number of Dancer Nobodies. Demyx tried to take back control of them, but none of them listened to him, much to his annoyance. For a Nobody, sometimes he can have some surprising outbursts of emotion to him – or perhaps because he'd been hanging around us for too long, he was starting to get feelings of his own, much like Axel does between his keeping company with Roxas, Xion and Sora.<br>Mickey took off almost as soon as we were done, running on ahead to the Bailey and what was left of the Restoration Site, only to see the mass of Heartless heading for Hollow Bastion. The Gullwings, Aerith, Leon, Cloud – from our vantage, we spotted them all somewhere along the cliffs below, busily fighting them off. Once I even thought I spotted Sephiroth among the rocks, but the craggy landscape made it difficult to tell for sure.  
>"What a party," I muttered. "One we'll have to crash though."<br>"Sora, you gotta go looking for Riku and Kairi," Mickey told me. "And Donald too."  
>"I'll find them, don't worry. But this comes first."<br>"There's lots of help already here. We'll take care of this."  
>"Mickey, if I told you that even with all that help you're going to fail without me, would you change your mind?"<br>_I wouldn't place any bets on that myself,_ Roxas told me._ Watch out, by the way – I can't tell what'll happen where you're meant to defeat Demyx.  
><em>Mickey sighed, giving up. "Alright. But as soon as you're done here-"  
>"I know. I'll get back to work as usual," I grinned back, then we headed down into the canyon toward where Sora fought Demyx. With Roxas's warning and Demyx right with us, I was both worried and curious about what would happen.<br>As it turned out, Xemnas was what happened. He stood waiting for us where Demyx should have been. After the unexpected battle back in Hollow Bastion where I'd somehow managed to beat him without any idea of what to expect, I was fairly confident I could take him on – but I wasn't expecting him here right now, and that was, to say the least, worrying. Who knew what he had up his sleeves?  
>To our surprise, he held up one hand with a faint smile.<br>"Fear not," he murmured. "I have not come here to indulge your misunderstood need to destroy the Organization."  
>"Don't be so sure about the misunderstood part," I told him harshly.<br>"So loyal to your heart even in the face of your greatest adversary. You continue to be a stimulating opponent, Sora. More than once you have given me reason to curse your name."  
>"Good! I hope I give you many more reasons to!"<br>"I have little doubt that you will. However, I must address my original reasons for being here. If you wouldn't mind Sora, I wish to speak with Roxas. I know he is awake within you, so there is no point to hiding the fact."  
>Roxas muttered a few unprintable comments, then pushed me aside to talk through me again.<br>"What do you want, Xemnas?" he demanded roughly while I spread my arms to show the others it was really him talking. Mickey looked particularly surprised. "Out with it. I don't have patience to stand here all day."  
>"I imagine asking you-"<br>"Oh, forget it," he cut Xemnas off in disgust. "I thought you'd have gotten the idea when I left the castle. I don't care what you promise me, I've got no interest in helping you any more."  
>"You could regain yourself. Be your own person again."<br>"And leave Sora incomplete? What do you think I am, selfish?"  
>"Wouldn't you rather have your own existance again?"<br>"Of course. But Sora needs me still, and I'm not going to turn my back on him. By the time that's over with, you'll be long gone, and there won't be any point. Besides, I like Sora's company."  
><em>Thanks, I guess. Try not to get me into any trouble, will you?<br>_"You're making a mistake, Roxas," Xemnas told him.  
>"No, you just think I am. Give up, Xemnas. You've got nothing I want. At least, nothing I want that I have a reason to accept. Just give up and go away."<br>"You may come to regret this choice," he warned Roxas.  
>"Or you will," he retorted as Xemnas vanished into a corridor. "I certainly hope he does," he muttered afterwards.<p> 


	52. Fighting for Friends

With Xemnas's disappearance, we found ourselves swamped with varying kinds of Nobodies. Before Roxas let me have my voice back, he summoned his own Samurai Nobodies back to us to fight them off. Maybe they were Nobodies, but they were also valuable allies given the Heartless and other Nobodies around.  
>We supported them ourselves though, separating to take on different fronts. Demyx once more tried to take control of the Dancer Nobodies, and when he failed again instead of using water and his music to defend himself, he went on the offensive instead, beating them up with the sitar and even a few times with his fists.<br>This separation left us all vulnerable in a way, however. On the top of the surrounding cliffs, there were still Heartless fighting other Nobodies, and one of the Surveillance Robot Heartless shot at a dusk, sending debris flying. I noticed too late to intercept it, and Goofy was once again knocked out.  
>I may have been too late to stop it from happening, but I got there in time to stop anything else from being done to him. Mickey was second to notice, evidently furious as he discarded his own black coat and somehow managed to fight with even more ferocity than before.<br>As soon as the Nobodies were clear, he left without a word, going on ahead. Demyx joined me while I took a few moments to work an ache out of one arm. Fighting Nobodies might be worthwhile, but even it takes its toll sooner or later.  
>"Is he... I mean..."<br>"No," I answered. "But it's very convincing. He'll come to soon enough and realize what's happened. We can go after Mickey and rejoin the fight."  
>"But..."<br>"Don't worry. Now we've driven off the Nobodies in this area, they won't come here. I know telling you to stay behind isn't going to do any good and he'll be safe here. He'll understand when he wakes up."  
>So we headed on after Mickey. How he'd gotten past some of the more active areas was beyond either me, but the two of us fought our way on with assistance from Yuffie, Leon and Tifa along the way. Cloud too, who held me back just before we moved on to give me the chain for Fenrir, the Keyblade with the most attack strength, even if it does shorten the combo chain by one. Fatal Crest made up for that though, still allowing me an unlimited combo chain as long as I held it.<br>We caught up with Mickey in the crystal fissure, which was strangely deserted of both Heartless and Nobodies, and took a few moments to look ahead at what we were facing. A lot of Heartless, in case you're wondering. I strongly suspect the entire battle between the two was orchestrated by the Organization so they'd put me in a position where I'd have no choice but to destroy Maleficent's Heartless army, giving them a nice supply of hearts.  
>"Did ya do something for Goofy?" Mickey asked me in a subdued tone.<br>"Yep. Made sure he was safe."  
>"That's all?" I winked at him, then pointed back up the ravine we'd come down. Goofy was running down it. "You <em>knew<em>? And you didn't say anything!"  
>"Well, you did kinda run off before you gave me the chance... and anyway, it seemed to make you fight even more than before."<br>"I don't know whether to hit you or thank you for this."  
>"You're welcome," I replied graciously, grinning as I added, "It's what I do. Incidentally, we'll probably see Xemnas again when we clear out those Heartless, so if you'd care to join us again..."<br>Mickey glared at me for a moment, then sighed.  
>"I'm not cut out to work with someone like you," he told me. "I don't like knowing you've got all the answers and feeling like you're not sharing them."<br>"It's not entirely deliberate. Besides, the future is a touchy place to be mucking around. Make the wrong change, and..."  
>"Donald disappears?" he suggested.<br>"Please don't remind me," I winced. "Not that I don't want to get him back, but I'm kinda the cause of it, and I'm trying very hard not to think about that."  
>"You just watch yourself, and if you've got something worth telling me, tell me. You know I won't tell anyone if you don't think it's safe to."<br>"I know," I nodded simply. That didn't make it any easier for me to tell him what was still to come – if I hadn't made any more changes.  
>Goofy caught up with us then, giving us a few moments of reunion before he too noticed the Heartless in the Great Maw ahead and told us we shouldn't have waited for him.<br>What you don't see here is that there's not one, but four Great Maws – they're a line of depressions in the cliffs, with the entrance and exit fissures joining together on either side, and that's why we all had to fight alone instead. I ensured both Demyx and Goofy had a supply of potions to keep themselves healed and added some extra elixirs to Demyx's supply for his magic even if he wasn't using it. I did offer to share our supplies with Mickey, but he insisted he'd be fine. Well, he did have the opposite of my own Kingdom Key and some healing magic. No doubt he'd make good on that.  
>There was nothing else for it at that point but to go ahead and head into the Great Maw for what most know as the Battle of a Thousand Heartless. I couldn't tell you if there really are a thousand, since I wasn't keeping count.<br>Contrary to my usual insistence that the scythe is an ineffective weapon, I borrowed from Roxas again so I could make use of Marluxia's scythe in hand as I headed in, using the shockwaves each swing generated to carve a path to what I judged to be the middle of the mass, which naturally turned immediately on me. I found one of the more useful things about that scythe is that with wide swings, it neatly shoved all the nearby Heartless around to be in front of me, leaving me with a nice wide area around that was completely clear but for the line up in front of me.  
>I discarded the scythe at that point, falling back to the Keyblade to eliminate that collection before falling on the rest of those nearby, keeping a close watch on all the others nearby so that when my small area of clear ground was too close for comfort, all I had to do was bring back the scythe, sweep them all up in front of me again, then repeat the tactic.<br>While making use of Roxas like this left me with only one Keyblade to call on, it was at least the more powerful of the two, cutting down on the amount of blows I had to land. On the other hand that was also somewhat limiting, since I'd grown used to fighting with two Keyblades.  
>So as the numbers began to dwindle, I reverted early so I could use both Keyblades, and when there were only a few left and I couldn't be bothered to chase them down, I threw each Keyblade after different Heartless, then sending various magic at any other Heartless that were still around. Mostly Blizzard, to make them hold still until I could send a Keyblade to them.<br>I was the first to exit the Great Maw, and quickly glanced back to the others to see how they were doing. Mickey was chasing down the last of his own Heartless, having clearly made good on his insistence that he didn't need any help.  
>Demyx appeared to have found a way to keep his water forms intact without having to keep playing the music, and was busily decimating the Heartless simply be cornering them with the water forms so there was no escape, and avoiding harm by using them to block any ranged attacks at him. Melee wasn't a problem for him, since he was still fighting with considerable feeling.<br>Goofy was slightly behind, but also had help in the form of Roxas's Samurais.  
><em>He was having trouble,<em> Roxas murmured to me. _So I had them lend a hand, and stole Demyx's tactics for him to use. Goofy doesn't need a Nobody to defend himself though, not with his shield.  
><em>"You think of everything, don't you?" I replied, not bothering to keep my voice down as there was no one else to hear.  
><em>I took a leaf from your book, and decided to take a few precautions – just in case someone tried to do anything to Goofy again. Once was bad enough; Mickey would probably never forgive you if something happened to him again, especially before getting Donald back.<br>_Mickey finished the last of his Heartless, then ran past me after Xemnas, who was of course waiting just ahead. As Xemnas disappeared again, Mickey jumped into the corridor after him.  
>"Hello Axel," I said then.<br>"You know, that's a really irritating habit you've got there," he told me, coming up beside me. "Roxas used to do the same thing. It's kinda disturbing knowing the other guy knows what you're going to do."  
>"You get used to it after a while. I know it was a trap too."<br>"Will you stop that?" he demanded. "At least give me a chance to say something first!"  
>"Sorry. Guess I wanted to get that out the way before Saïx showed up."<br>"Saïx is coming here?" he asked, looking around warily.  
>"Oh, stop that. He won't show up until Demyx and Goofy have finished dealing with their Heartless. Anyway, I want to suggest something to you."<br>"I can't stay here, Sora. Not if Saïx is going to show up. He wants to destroy me."  
>"And Demyx too," I pointed out. "But as you can see he is alive and well, and has been ever since he turned traitor back at Olympus Coliseum. Why don't you come with me too, Axel?"<br>"How do I know I can trust you?"  
>"I'm the other side of Roxas, remember. And Roxas is awake within me, he'd never let me do anything to you, his friend. I can even arrange for you to talk to him, if you want."<br>"You can... but he's gone back with you. Riku told me so."  
>"He didn't lie to you. Let him show you," I added, then once more allowed Roxas to talk through me.<br>"Is it really that hard to believe him?" he asked Axel. "I mean, he and I are that similar..."  
>"Roxas? Is that..."<br>"Why does everyone who knew me ask that?" Roxas burst out in exasperation. "Of course's it's me, who else would it be?"  
>"But you still look like Sora."<br>"Well what did you expect? I did kinda give up my own form to complete him. But I've got my own presence all the same. I keep him out of trouble, lend a hand and sometimes even let him borrow some of my abilities."  
>"But you can't come out yourself, right?"<br>"Only for short times through his Drive forms, and even then we don't do that too often. But I don't mind that. So are you with us?"  
>Axel hesitated, seemingly uncertain. Goofy joined us, closely followed by Demyx.<br>"Hey, Axel!" he greeted the other Nobody brightly. "You coming with us too?"  
>"Hurry up and decide, Axel," Roxas told him. "I'm gonna have to hand back to Sora anyway."<br>"I don't know," Axel said, still not sure.  
>"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Demyx insisted, flinging an arm around him.<br>_Alright, you need to watch out,_ Roxas said to me._ Saïx is about to show up any moment now, and he's going to try to eliminate both Demyx and Axel together. He'll come at them from behind, so get ready.  
><em>I didn't need telling twice, getting my Keyblades ready by making some show of checking them. They almost never need cleaning or any maintenance, so this was completely for show.  
>Saïx appeared to have mastered the ability to create dark corridors that made no sound at all, but he wasn't capable of making them unseen, so as he emerged with his massive claymore already swinging downwards for the unprotected backs of Demyx and Axel, I quickly intercepted the attack, using both Keyblades to push back against it. Even with both of them there, the force Saïx had managed to put behind it was powerful enough to push me back quite a ways, leaving small troughs in the ground where my feet had dug in. Both Nobodies turned, saw Saïx struggling against my block and quickly got clear.<br>"Get out of the way, boy," Saïx growled at me. "They are traitors, and require punishment."  
>"They're friends of me and Roxas," I replied. "I won't let you hurt them."<br>Saïx made several more strikes at me, each one pushing me back further. Then he paused, and I seized the chance to strike back. He had only one blade to block my two, and big as it was, it was slow and unwieldy when faced with two Keyblades striking in just the right places.  
>"Next time, Sora," Saïx snarled at me eventually, retreating back into a corridor. I turned back to see Axel looking amazed.<br>"You fought for me, even though you didn't know if I'd go with you."  
>"That's what I do for my friends. You're a friend of Roxas, and any friend of his is a friend of mine."<br>"I'd trust him, Axel," Demyx told him. "I was cautious when he said he'd protect me from the Organization, but I've travelled with him for a bit and I don't think he ever had any intentions of turning on me. Now we're friends, and we work together, fight together... you wouldn't believe some of the adventures I've been on with him!"  
>"Later, Demyx," I said gently. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to exchange stories. But first... are you with us, Axel?" I asked, extending one hand to him. This time Axel did not hesitate, shaking it.<br>"Let's get this party on the road," he grinned.


	53. Fourteenth Struggle

Though I now had another ally on my side, my interventions that had brought both Axel and Demyx to my side had consequences again. Maleficent did not show up and neither did Saïx's Heartless. As a result, there was no way for us to enter the realm of Darkness however briefly through Maleficent, and thus we were cut off from Riku.  
>On the other hand, while I knew every Heartless slain would only add to Kingdom Hearts, I also knew it most likely wouldn't make any difference in the slightest whether I tried to find other ways or not – that, and I also knew that even if I used something other than a Keyblade, because I owned them any Heartless would still yield a heart that could be harvested.<br>The issue of Riku was solved for me however. Leon and Cloud emerged from the Great Maw, following someone in a black coat with their respective blades pointed at him warily. With the hood up it would have been difficult at best to identify him, but Riku had the hood down, revealing his appearance as Ansem.  
>"You can put those down," I told his escort. "He isn't Ansem."<br>"He looks like Ansem," Leon pointed out, not relenting.  
>"His name is Riku, and he looks like Ansem because he hosted Ansem for a time, and needed his power. But he's on our side, so put it down."<br>Riku breathed a little easier with their blades put away, then reached into a pocket and pulled out a small red-covered book.  
>"Here," he said. "You gave me this right before you closed the Door to Darkness."<br>I glanced into it, realizing it was the copy of the original journal, completely intact with nothing missing.  
>"See Jiminy?" I said, handing it to him. "I told you it'd be kept safe, didn't I?" Jiminy took it off me almost eagerly, taking out the second journal and checking things between the two. "Did you happen to run into the King in your travels?" I asked Riku.<br>"Of course. We had an interesting discussion about you, actually. Or we tried, anyway. He wouldn't say much, something about a secret you asked him to keep."  
>So Riku did not know – not yet, anyway.<br>"Maybe sometime I'll get around to telling you about it. Now, are you coming with me or not?"  
>"I've got better things to do than go blundering around like you do," he teased. "Here. I'm meant to give you these, though I can't see why." He took out a small box, and handed it to us. "Don't go getting in trouble again, will you?" Riku asked me with a sly grin, then disappeared into a corridor of his own.<br>"Are you sure that was Riku?" Axel asked me. "Only I went on a mission once with Roxas to track him down, and he was definitely shorter."  
>"Weren't you paying attention?" Demyx said. "He looks different because of Ansem. What's in the box, Sora?"<br>"A photo and several bars of ice cream," I answered, then opened it to confirm it. The photo was, of course, of Roxas while in the simulated Twilight Town with Hayner's gang. There were enough bars of ice cream to pass around all of us, even Leon and Cloud, with one left over. "Give it to Scrooge in town," I told Leon. "Maybe he'll figure out how to make it again."  
>But Leon shook his head, "He already did while you were off in that computer world. Keep it with you for now – you might find someone to give it to yet."<br>The others started on their own ice creams as Cloud led Leon back into town.  
>"Not gonna try yours?" Axel asked me. "Roxas loved them, you know."<br>"I know," I answered absently. Sea-salt ice cream. Do you know how hard it is for you to get any without having to make your own? I had a fair feeling that this would likely be the only one I'd get to have for a long while.  
><em>Go on back into town,<em> Roxas told me. _You can get to the Cavern of Remembrance now, and the Garden of Assemblage within. Don't forget your ice cream,_ he added as I started back toward Hollow Bastion.  
>I did have my ice cream along the way, and I can honestly say Roxas isn't the only one that loves them. Given half the chance to, I sometimes think I'd move to Hollow Bastion just for the ice cream. I don't think anyone could not like it.<br>Back at the damaged remains of the Postern, Roxas directed us through a new tunnel that had been uncovered which lead to the Cavern of Remembrance. Normally, it's recommended to be a high level before you come here, but Roxas distractedly assured me we'd be fine, and to stop bothering him because he was working on something again.  
>Most of the entrance area was deserted, just being made of a dull and dark purple rock. Moving on from there into what seemed to be some kind of mine saw things get more troublesome though, with many Heartless, none of which appear outside the Cavern of Remembrance, and all of them tough customers. I borrowed Roxas's Samurais to help take them on, but even then it was still touchy at times.<br>We would have had to fly around this area to get to the exit, but there were a number of flying carpets that were suspiciously similar to the one seen in Agrabah, making it much easier for us all to get around on a carpet each. These carpets also helped us get around the mineshafts that connected the various areas without needing to make use of the High Jump and other abilities granted by my Drive forms.  
>Following the mines, we came to a fair sized cavern where we were attacked by waves of Nobodies, though Dusks and Samurais were conspicuously absent. Several Nobodies we hadn't encountered yet, such as the Sorcerer and Gambler Nobodies were there though, giving us a little trouble handling them until they too were figured out.<br>It doesn't sound like it took long to get through all that, but believe me it did. We were all relieved when we reached the Garden of Assemblage, with a route freshly opened that went directly to the restoration site, giving easy access again.  
>The Garden of Assemblage is a large, round and white room that at first appears to have nothing in it until the computer is accessed, and even that computer doesn't really do anything except store data.<br>On accessing it though, the outside walls of the room gained a multitude of doors, like those seen in Proof of Existence in the Organization's castle. There were thirteen doors, each one with a number engraved into the frame, and two other doors separate from the main ones. Neither had any number on them.  
>The numbered ones corresponded to the thirteen Nobodies of the Organization. The doors for Axel, Demyx and Roxas all held glowing green portals, perhaps to signify that they were on my side now.<br>Blue doors, the computer told us, were accessible data-battles with the corresponding members. The available ones belonged to Larxene, Marluxia, Zexion, Lexaeus, Vexen, Xaldin, and interestingly Xemnas, though just as curiously not Xigbar. Xemnas I could understand; I had defeated him once before even if it hadn't been expected. But Xigbar? I was certain I'd seen him destroyed on my first return to Hollow Bastion after waking up. Surely his should have been open?  
>Xigbar's door and the remaining doors for Saïx and Luxord were red, showing I could not yet access them, as was one of the two separate doors. The other door without a number was blue.<br>I briefly explained to the others what this place was. It was Axel that pointed out that if we wanted to go against him or Demyx, they'd have to stay behind so there wouldn't be two of them – the real and data ones. It was either that or potentially get confused and attack the wrong one.  
><em>Go into the unmarked door,<em> Roxas told me. _Probably best to go by yourself. There's someone I want you to meet.  
><em>Goofy protested that I shouldn't leave them behind, but I insisted I'd be fine, then passed through the door. For a moment I thought I'd just walked into a room so blandly grey that I couldn't even see the edges of the room, but then the air shimmered and became the top of Twilight Town's clock tower.  
>Just ahead of me, seated on the ledge just above the clock itself, was someone wearing the Organization's black coat, reminiscent of Roxas's own one. The hood was pushed back though, showing the untidy mess of dark brown hair that I recognised as my own – not my own while I was Sora, his isn't untidy, just spiky. This was how my real hair looked, and that meant this had to be Xion.<br>"I know you're there," Xion told me, sounding exactly like me. "You might as well join me."  
>"Are you really... here?" I had to ask as I took a seat to his right – the same side Roxas would have sat on, I realized absently.<br>"Trust you to ask a question like that," he laughed. "No, I'm not here. This is just a data-based projection. All that's left of me really, since Roxas had no choice but to destroy me. And when he did that..."  
>"Everyone forgot about you, because you were made from memories."<br>"Exactly. When Roxas found out I'd be forgotten when we clashed, he found this place and created this so I'd get a chance to meet you. Somehow he persuaded Naminé to help keep the last remnants of me from fading away so I'd be a bit more than just a simulation of me."  
>"I guess he wanted us to meet each other then. He was pretty insistent I come here."<br>"Roxas told me a lot about you. I always wondered what you'd think of me if we ever met."  
>"It's hard to say without knowing what you went through, you know."<br>"I know. Unfortunately, even I don't have all my memories. Naminé was only able to save a small amount of them. Roxas might know, but you'll have to persuade him to tell you. The Organization knew he had the ability to see things that had happened somewhere else, but he absolutely refused to use it for anyone except himself, me and Axel. He and Xemnas used to have loud arguments about that," he laughed again. "Some nights we never got any sleep at all, even if they argued up at the Altar of Naught."  
>"He sounds just as stubborn as me."<br>"You forgot to mention meddlesome. He changed one or two things too. When Naminé put you to sleep, Roxas was in the middle of a fight in Agrabah, and Xigbar held off the Heartless until he could bring Roxas back. Roxas grudgingly admitted he owed Xigbar a favour, and told him something about what would happen later on."  
>"Do you know what?"<br>"No. I never got to hear what happened, and Roxas wouldn't talk about it. He said he felt guilty enough for telling him, but he did owe Xigbar a favour, and he wasn't going to try and get out of it."  
>"I wonder if it's related to Xigbar's door outside. I thought I'd destroyed him, but his door is still red, suggesting he isn't."<br>"I wouldn't know. Now, I've got my own request for you, Liam."  
>"Hold on there a moment," Roxas said, finally appearing nearby. "Did you forget what I told you when I finished this?" he asked Xion.<br>"You took your sweet time," Xion replied critically.  
>"I had to figure out how to appear. It's not the same as the Absent Silhouette areas are."<br>"You mean you didn't doze off again?"  
>"Hey!"<br>We had to laugh at that, then Xion turned back to me. "Anyway, our request," he said.  
>"Our? A moment ago it was just yours," I said.<br>"Yeah, well, I thought Roxas wasn't going to show up." Xion stood up, walking out onto the empty air just as he probably had when starting to fight Roxas, and Roxas followed him. Each of them called on a Keyblade. Xion held Oathkeeper, and Roxas of course held my Fatal Crest.  
>"You gotta be kidding me," I said. "You want me to take you both on? That's not fair!"<br>"What's wrong, Liam?" Xion grinned. "Afraid you won't be able to beat both your Nobody and your Replica?"  
>"Nah, he's just afraid it'll be too easy," Roxas smirked. "After all, he did take out Ansem pretty much entirely by himself."<br>"Come on, play fair," I insisted. "This was why you suggested the others stay behind, wasn't it? So you two could team up."  
>"That's right. And once you've entered one of these, no one else can come in until you win – or lose."<br>"One way or the other, you gotta defeat at least me," Xion added. "So whatcha say, Liam? Gonna give it a try?"  
>"I can't believe I'm doing this," I muttered to myself, stepping out onto the same unseen platform they were stood on. Part way out, it gave way, almost making me drop down if he hadn't managed to catch an edge and haul myself back up.<br>"Oh, did I forget to mention there's a few holes in the floor?" Xion asked innocently.  
>"Now you're just asking for trouble," I replied, bringing Fenrir into my hand. With Roxas fighting on Xion's side and the others outside, I had no Drive forms I could tall on. This would have to be done by Keyblade and magic.<br>I sent a series of Fire spells at the two of them straight away, then headed first for Roxas, figuring that as he was still technically a part of me, he'd be able to predict my tactics better. While he weaved through the fireballs to avoid harm, I closed on him and landed the first blow solidly on his back, then used Blizzard to hold him still while I turned quickly to block Xion's Oathkeeper aimed at my head.  
>Xion used tactics that I would have come up with myself, so there was little progress made by either of us while we fought. Our Keyblades never once touched anything but each other as he and I almost mirrored each other's attacks, seeing our own ideas forming in each other and deftly handling them almost as quickly as they came up.<br>Once Roxas got free of my Blizzard spell though, I retreated away from both of them, keeping careful watch on them. I noticed that where Roxas had been frozen, there were a few lines shimmering in the air – my Blizzard magic had revealed part of the floor.  
>As I almost stumbled into another invisible hole, I realized this knowledge would be invaluable at preventing me from falling through – but on the other hand would also do the same for them, assuming they didn't remember where the holes were themselves.<br>I took that chance though, this time sending a blanket of Blizzards toward them, aimed slightly downward so they'd reveal a considerable part of the floor, leaving a large area revealed with a slippery icy sheen over it. Fire melts ice and water conducts electricity... a new plan began to form. No doubt they would pick up on it if I was too obvious about it though, so I made some show of being disappointed in the results of the Blizzard blanket.  
>Roxas edged around the frozen area, but Xion did exactly what I would have, and slid across it instead, jumping just before he reached the edge to keep his momentum for a powerful downward attack. I kept near an as yet unrevealed hole I'd almost fallen through, then at the last minute I jumped clear. Oathkeeper flew from Xion's hand as he scrambled for the edge.<br>With Xion distracted, I charged Roxas. He was expecting this and tried to use the same trick I'd used on Xion, but I anticipated this and slowed before I reached him, making a feint for a higher strike that came sharply downwards as soon as he raised Fatal Crest to block it. I caught him solidly on the side, which left him open for further attacks – a second low blow caused his knees to buckle, and a downward strike on his unprotected back sent him to the floor with a grunt.  
>While he was down, I seized Fatal Crest from him.<br>"Good luck, Xion!" he called to her. "You're gonna need it now!" Then he disappeared again, allowing me to take up two Keyblades again, but I doubted he'd let me borrow his power against Xion.  
>Taking Fatal Crest from Roxas had been a distraction and a trap though, concealing from me that Xion had pulled himself back up, retrieved Oathkeeper, and was right behind me. As soon as I straightened up from retrieving Fatal Crest, I was hit hard from behind, sending me tumbling and both my Keyblades flying from my hands. I quickly scrambled to my feet, trying to summon them back to me only to find that didn't work here.<br>Fatal Crest was closer, though seemed to be tilting slightly in the air as if on another unseen edge. The relatively safer Fenrir Keyblade was in the middle of the ice patch, far from the various holes the ice revealed, but Xion was between me and it.  
>Though I suspected it wouldn't have any effect on him, I attempted to use Stop magic on him. Xion did not stop, but did slow down. I paused to consider this, then remembered – back when I'd gone against Riku in front of the Final Keyhole, Sora had modified my Stop spell to act as Slow if the Stop would have no effect.<br>So with Xion slowed and temporarily no threat to me, I ran for Fatal Crest, freezing the floor next to it with a string of Blizzard magic, then I dived onto the frozen floor to slide past Fatal Crest, snatching it up as I slid past on that cold ice and rolling back to my feed as the ice ended.  
>The slowing of Xion had worn off and he was after me again, ensuring he remained between me and Fenrir. I sent Fire at him, which he countered with Blizzard. That in turn I countered with Thunder, Xion countering with Reflect and following up with Magnet, drawing me in closer to him. I negated the effect with Gravity, using the visual effect of it as a cover so I could get around Xion to reach Fenrir.<br>Xion was ready for this though and had moved accordingly and we were once again battling Keyblade to Keyblade. This time though I had a new plan. As I struck out to block his attacks and try to make my own, I slowly started to circle around to one side until I was between him and Fenrir, then I began to retreat, appearing to give up ground until I judged I was close to the edge of the ice. I ducked under one strike he made turning and diving onto the ice again, pushing at the ice with Fatal Crest to direct myself around the holes to reach Fenrir and then safely off the other side of the ice.  
>Now Xion and I were on opposite sides of the ice. Every time he moved one way around it, I mirrored the movement, keeping us opposite. He seemed wary about stepping onto the ice, perhaps because he suspected my original idea concerning it. Finally he appeared to give in and started to make his way over it, looking more and more confident as I made no response until he was a fair ways onto it.<br>Then I melted it with a barrage of Fire, concluding with Thunder directed into the water. Xion called me a few names that are probably best not repeated here, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. He used his own Fire magic to make the water become steam that concealed his movements for a short time, but just as he'd anticipated my subterfuge with Gravity, I did the same here, moving clear of the cloud of steam as soon as he raised it.  
>When he emerged he headed back for me, but this time I had two Keyblades to his one. This time I drove him back and started to land a few more blows on him than on Oathkeeper. Xion used his own Stop to slow me down to get around and behind me to get in a few blows before the slow effect wore off.<br>I got around this simply by pretending to be slowed after the spell had worn off, then suddenly turning around to take him by surprise. Xion stepped back and fell through a hole, missing grabbing the edge.  
>I dismissed both Keyblades and grabbed his arm before he fell any further.<br>"Can I give you a hand?" I asked casually as he dismissed Oathkeeper and took hold of my own arm tightly.  
>"Just get me up," he told me. "You know fully well I'm afraid of heights, just like you."<br>"Actually, I'm fine with them – I just don't like seeing how far I have to fall."  
>"And I am sort of hanging far above the ground here, so will you get me back up!"<br>I pulled him up and back to the safety of the platform, then guided him back to the clock tower's visibly solid floor.  
>"So, what do you think of me?" I asked him. "All you expected of me?"<br>Xion nodded, "Definitely. That was a close fight, huh?"  
>"If I hadn't beaten Roxas first, I think the two of you would have gotten me good."<br>"You certainly kept us thinking, that's for sure. Come by again sometime and we'll have a rematch. Until then, you take this with you." He pulled out Kairi's good luck charm from one of my pockets and held it in both hands. When he removed one of them, the chain was reattached to it, making it the keychain for Oathkeeper, restored at last.  
>"Thanks, Xion."<br>"I'm not done yet. This is from both Roxas and me," he told me, then put both hands on my shoulders and concentrated. My clothes blurred slightly, then cleared to show them how they'd originally been before I'd picked up the new clothes from Yen Sid, though adjusted so they weren't too small any more. When he removed his hands, they restored to their original appearance.  
>"Limit form," I said, recognising it.<br>"That's right. Now even if you're fighting alongside Roxas in those Absent Silhouette battles, you'll have a Drive form to call on."  
>"Any more little gifts you've got to give me?"<br>"Nah, I'm out for now. Maybe if you stop by again later I'll have come up with something else though. Go on," he said, pointing to the door back outside again. "Your friends are all waiting for you."


	54. Dragons Again

I toyed with the idea of taking on some of the data battles, but decided there was more than enough to be getting on with for now. For starters, the second plot in each world was now accessible, and that meant I had work to do.  
>As is my usual habit at times like this, I followed the original path through the worlds I'd taken, which meant our first stop was the Land of Dragons – this time with Axel and Demyx, who spent most of the trip exchanging stories, Demyx of only slightly exaggerated stories of our adventures and Axel of his possibly exaggerated and daring escape from the Organization's attempt to off him for not eliminating Roxas. There was no real harm in letting them tell their stories, trying to outdo each other for the place of having had the best adventure the other had missed.<br>I checked in the book while I half-listened to their stories, as it was another quiet journey. Sora was still leaving me the occasional entry on what was going on, keeping me up to date on what to me is the terribly boring affairs of our world. This suggested that Roxas's guesses about his vision back in the Pride Lands had not been entirely accurate. If Sora was still writing these, he could hardly be with Kairi. So who was there with her? There didn't seem to be any way to tell for sure, and Roxas wasn't saying anything either. He probably didn't know any more than I did anyway.  
>So we landed in the remains of the town in the Land of Dragons, partially rebuilt by now. We lent a hand as we passed through, Axel lighting several small fires to help ward off the chill from the snow, and melting some of the snow so Demyx could direct it safely away from the town to ease efforts slightly. Goofy and I just passed lumber and such up to the workers, not having much else we can do.<br>We paused on the edge of the town though, seeing an Organization member with their hood up.  
><em>Xigbar,<em> Roxas said. _I think. But didn't you destroy him?  
><em>"Xigbar," Demyx and Axel together at the same time. "But-"  
>"Yes, I thought I did too," I sighed, interrupting them. "I'm starting to re-evaluate a number of ideas when it comes to Xigbar. He's up to something."<br>"Sora!" Mulan's voice called. She was running toward Xigbar, sword at the ready. Xigbar left quickly. "Behind you!"  
>"Wait, Mulan! These two are my friends now."<br>Now Mulan paused, eyeing Axel warily. "But he looks like-" then broke off. "No time for that! We've got to go after that other one!"  
>"No argument from me there," I replied, then she rejoined us to head up the peak.<br>"I haven't done this much running around in one place for a long time," Axel remarked to me along the way.  
>"You're just out of shape," I teased.<br>"Don't bet on it," he puffed back. "I can keep going as long as you can. Except maybe in a fight," he added as an afterthought. "I used to run around Radiant Garden a lot, picking small fights and things so people would always remember me. That was back before I became a Nobody though."  
>"Remember Ventus at all?" I asked, trying to sound casual about it.<br>"Ven? Sure thing, he and I sparred once back then. Roxas reminded me of him – the two could almost have been twins."  
>"Was there ever anyone else with him?"<br>"Who, Ventus?" I just nodded. "Strange that you mention it, Xigbar stopped by Castle Oblivion to ask me the same thing. That was just after Naminé put you to sleep, not that you remember."  
>"And?" I prompted.<br>"It could just be a trick of my memory," he answered doubtfully. "But I could swear there was a kid with him that looked just like you. But you couldn't have been there, could you?"  
>"Me? Of course not!" I scoffed, though inside I wasn't so certain. Somehow, I had become a part of Ventus's story. But how and why? "It was about eleven years ago now anyway," I said. "I'd look different that long ago. It couldn't have been me."<br>"Guess that's true. Look sharp, up ahead."  
>Xigbar was still running up the Ridge, just visible beyond some rocky outcroppings. Then he disappeared behind one of them. The area behind came into clear view just moments later, and there was no sign of a dark corridor – they take a little time before they close and disappear, and if he'd used one there wouldn't have been enough time for that. He was still here somewhere.<br>But when we got to the summit, he was nowhere to be seen.  
>"We lost him," Mulan said, disappointed. "I thought I had him when you showed up."<br>"We're after him too. All of us," I quickly added, as Mulan still seemed concerned about Axel. I was going to have to do something about his appearance too – some few still recognised Demyx as an Organization member despite his coat's new colours, but Axel still bore the normal black.  
><em>Leave it to me,<em> Roxas murmured, picking up on my thoughts. _Once I'm done with this though. It'll be ready soon, so don't be impatient. By the way, look up.  
><em>I looked up, then nudged the others into doing the same.  
>"Them guys again?" Goofy said on seeing the mass of Rapid Thruster Heartless.<br>"Again?" Demyx asked. "You mean you had to fight all that before?"  
>"Last time we were here," I confirmed. "We'll do it the same way we did last time – everyone slightly separate from the rest and take on a bunch. They're not hard to defeat. Mulan, Goofy and I have done this before, we'll back you two up if you need it."<br>So we split up, and the Heartless descended to our level. Within a few moments, there were clear circles around each of us where we'd cleared those that had dropped a little further to attack. Axel appeared to have no trouble handling them, the chakrams leaving blazing trails of fire that decimated the Heartless. Demyx stole the melted snow from around Axel to create water forms to aid him. I'd learned on the way here that if Demyx summons the water himself, the resulting water forms aren't as powerful because some of his magic went into creating the water, whereas using water that's already around frees up more magic, and therefore more power.  
>Goofy and Mulan fought just as hard without any magic, Mulan showing considerably more prowess with her sword than she had last time we were here. I on the other hand changed tactics after a time, pulled out Wisdom Form with the Book of Retribution, and conjured a rock shower out of the empty air, taking care to prevent the others from being harmed by it, and even more care to ensure I didn't cause an avalanche – not as easy as it sounds when you're also trying to maintain the illusion in the first place. The drain on my magic severely shortened the time I could keep it active, but the damage was done. The Heartless that remained after the illusion flickered and faded out broke ranks and fled.<br>"Where did you learn to do _that_?" Axel demanded of me.  
>"Oh, Roxas and I figured out a way to borrow Zexion's book, that's all. Aren't illusions fun?" I grinned.<br>"You coulda told me it wasn't going to affect me! D'ya know how freaky it is when a rock goes right through you?"  
>"I cherish my ignorance on the matter," I replied, smiling benignly. "Now, why don't we head back to the city?"<br>"What for?" Mulan asked. "That man is still up here."  
>"Actually, unless I'm much mistaken he escaped in the fight and is busy down in the city below, where the Heartless that's about to come over the peak is headed."<br>Everyone turned to look up to the peak as the mountain shook slightly, causing several small avalanches. A larger one was caused with a matching larger shake as the massive Storm Rider Heartless burst out of the snow and started flying down toward the city.  
>"Told you so," I said smugly.<br>_One of these days, doing that is going to get you into trouble,_ I was told as we headed back down. _I'm done, by the way – you remember what I did for Demyx and your Drive forms?  
><em>"Of course," I muttered back so the others wouldn't hear.  
><em>I did the same thing for Axel, except he counts more like Goofy. Pick both him and Goofy and you'll have a heavy power-oriented form instead. I've got a few ideas for Master form when you get it, but that'll have to wait. Have fun with the Heartless, by the way.<br>_"Oh, sure," I replied sardonically. "Because beating up giant Heartless is fun."  
><em>Be nice.<br>_"Whatever. Mulan!" I called to her. "Go on ahead and warn the soldiers about Axel, will you? He's definitely on our side!"  
>Mulan nodded, running faster still. She has a fair turn of speed behind her, I have to admit. I could have gone a bit faster, but I didn't want to leave the others behind.<br>The soldiers waited with Mulan at the palace doors, apparently already having discovered that the doors were locked. When we arrived, they nodded to each other then stood one on top of another leaning on the pillar for extra support, to give Mulan and the rest of us an easier climb to get up and down into the hallway below.  
>"Xigbar!" I shouted, seeing him at the far end of the corridor, hood still up. "Come back here and fight me, you trickster!"<br>"Trickster! As if!" he snorted, stopping at the far end of the corridor, pushing the hood back. "You're just gullible."  
>"Gullible! I don't know what you did at Hollow Bastion, but I'm coming for you, you little coward!"<br>"Ooh, harsh words," Xigbar grinned. "Hope you can back them up!" He snapped his fingers, causing Sniper Nobodies to appear. I charged him, ignoring the Snipers unless they got too close. Xigbar made no move to defend himself, instead grinning even broader than before as I slammed into him full on, not bothering with Keyblades until he was pinned against the wall.  
>"This time, you're gone for good," I told him as he started to fade again.<br>"You're missing one thing, kid," Xigbar laughed. "But why should I tell you, when you can have all the fun of finding out for yourself? Just remember Vexen, and it'll come to you."  
>"Vexen? But-" I started to ask the question, but he was already gone. "What does Vexen have to do with it?"<br>Then the sounds of fighting behind me cut through my wondering and it was temporarily forgotten while I came to their aid, finishing off the last of the Nobodies with them. Once the were done I had Mulan guide us toward the Throne Room.  
>"What did Xigbar have to say for himself?" Axel asked me on the way.<br>"Something about missing one thing, something to do with Vexen," I replied. "He didn't bother to defend himself or anything, which doesn't seem like him at all."  
>Axel looked thoughtful for a moment. "I could be wrong," he warned me. "But I heard a rumour while I was at Castle Oblivion that someone had stolen Vexen's research notes on Replicas, like the Riku Replica – ah, but you don't remember that, do you?"<br>"No, but I have a rough idea of what went on there. I know of the Riku Replica. Are you suggesting that..."  
>"Xigbar might have been the one to steal them, and that would mean..."<br>"I've been destroying Replicas of him," I finished. "I've probably never even seen the real Xigbar. I wonder if Xemnas knows about this?"  
>"I wouldn't count on it. After I got back from Castle Oblivion, I got the strong impression that Xigbar had his own plans. Maybe this is the result of them."<br>"If it is... it's long range planning. He'd have to have knowledge in advance..."  
><em>Drop it,<em> Roxas told me ominously. _You don't want to continue that line of thought. You already know what's going on, don't concern yourself about the rest.  
><em>Apparently Roxas did not know Xion had told me about the favour he'd owed to Xigbar, and what he'd done to repay it.


	55. Past and Present

We paused in the throne room to pay brief respects to the Emperor and fill him in on the situation, as Riku had apparently not shown up here, and therefore not fought Captain Shang or informed the Emperor of the impending Heartless attack. The Emperor commended our courage, then commanded us to go forth and strike down the Heartless. His exact words were 'smite the unholy menace' but the Captain pointed out that lacked a certain Emperor-like touch, and requested we keep it quiet.  
>Mulan opened the front doors of the Palace for us along the way, and almost as soon as we were outside it was clear by the powerful downdrafts that the Heartless was right above us.<br>The Storm Rider looks like a tough customer, and without a proper plan to tackle it, it can really be a pain. Like most boss battles, I don't recall the fights I may have played through, but that's nothing remarkable; it just leaves me with a lack of knowledge to handle it.  
>But it's not too hard to defeat. It dived down low, apparently to try and scare us off, but that failed and instead provided me with the perfect opportunity to catch its tail and scramble up its back, closely followed by the more agile Mulan. Axel and Demyx had to move clear, while Goofy just narrowly missed getting caught by one of the Storm Rider's talons, and was forced to resort to throwing his shield at it. As soon as we got Donald back, I decided I was going to have him teach Goofy some basic magic so he was a little more useful at times like that.<br>Axel of course threw fire and chakrams at it, which seemed to infuriate it more than the two of us on its back. It banked hard to one side to orient him, forcing Mulan to jam her sword into it to hold on tight, while I hooked Fatal Crest over the edge of one wing to keep my grip.  
>Once it levelled out again, Mulan gestured for me to continue up to the neck, while she struggled to get her sword out of its back. I gave her a brief hand getting it out, after which she went to work carving into the wings – without flight, it would be at a severe disadvantage.<br>I made my way up to the neck, locking my legs around it so it would be harder to throw me off, and even then it was a hard task staying on and raining blows on its head. It really didn't like that, trying to orient on me, but I was too close for it to reach.  
>Demyx called to us to get a tight grip – easier said than done where I was – then something crashed into the back of the Storm Rider that made it give a furious squawk and turn around one more time, abandoning its efforts to attack Axel and me. As it turned, we were treated to a view of what it had been. Demyx had pulled water from several nearby fountains to create not many water forms, but one massive one that stood as high as the Storm Rider was flying. It made several attempts to attack the water form, but everything seemed to pass right through it, infuriating it.<br>Axel, Mulan and I continued our attacks, this time with Mulan catching it's attention as it started to notice the damage done to one wing. With a triumphant smirk, Mulan gave one last effort and one wing came off entirely, causing it to lose control and dive toward the ground.  
>It missed the palace, but crashed down into the courtyard, where Mulan jumped clear. I didn't have the nerve to do anything but hold on and hope for the best at this point. The weight and momentum kept it going, and I could see the outer walls of the courtyard looming, and I had a bad feeling we were going to go right through them.<br>With sudden inspiration I sent as many Magnet spells as I could out just behind it, hoping the combined pull would slow it enough prevent damaging the walls, never mind the large trough we'd just carved in the courtyard itself.  
>The last magic I had was not Magnet though but Stop, which of course fell back to Slow as this was a Heartless boss. I'd seen Demyx's giant water form heading after me, and further slowing us like this gave it the chance it needed to catch up, get ahead of us, and push back to finally bring us to a stop, almost right beside the walls.<br>It wasn't defeated yet though, just stunned from the impact on landing, and nearly critically weakened, meaning that one last attack from me, repeating Mulan's means of staying on but with Fenrir, caused it to finally fade away and release its heart.  
>I had planned to apologise to the Emperor for the damage done to his courtyard, but he cut me off with one hand raised.<br>"Do not be over-concerned," he smiled. "Such things are only to be expected given the circumstances. But once again, we find you have served China well, and it would please me to reward you. What is it that you wish?"  
>Axel and Demyx shared a look between them, then Axel said, "I haven't even considered what I want lately. I was so set on getting away from the Organization I never thought of anything else."<br>"Me neither," Demyx agreed. "I'll settle for sticking with you, Sora. If you don't mind, of course."  
>"Ya really think you need to ask him?" Goofy said. He might come across as a bit... dense at times, but there's a mind behind it working away better than anyone suspects. "I can't think of anything myself. Maybe you got something, Sora?"<br>Now I was the focus of attention, and I had to think. Was there anything I could ask of the Emperor, without letting on about other worlds? I had no reason to ask about Riku... but then it occurred to me, I could at least find out what was known about the Xigbar replica that had been seen here.  
>"I know it doesn't seem like much to ask for, Your Excellency, but I'd like to know about the man in the black coat that Mulan was chasing – if there is anything you can tell me."<br>"Ah, but to one who has the power of foresight, surely nothing that seems small is as small as it appears?" he suggested. I didn't reply, not having anything to say. "Very well. He had been seen here in the palace a great deal since your original visit, though no one saw him enter or leave. I know only what the Captain has told me beyond that."  
>"As far as I can tell, he never once met with anyone, never took anything, never said anything," Shang picked up the thread. "But he was often seen in places no one should be, and once I even caught him snooping around in the Emperor's rooms. Several times I saw him with another just like him."<br>"Could be the real Xigbar giving his replica orders," Axel suggested. "The Riku replica often needed nudging to keep it in line with what the others wanted, but we had Naminé to do that."  
>"It confirms our theory," I nodded. "Thank you, Your Excellency."<br>"And now Fa Mulan, is there something you wish to request?"  
>You know the rest. Mulan asked for a vacation for Shang, which was turned down and countered with the offer of serving alongside him, then we bore a round of thanks from them all, made our excuses politely, and departed again. There was nothing left to do in the Land of Dragons now.<p>

Back aboard the Gummi Ship, I set us on course for the Beast's Castle. Last time I'd gone here, I'd destroyed Xaldin, which was meant to happen on this one. It was with some trepidation I wondered what we could face while there. Another Xigbar replica? Luxord, the only member we had yet to meet? Or perhaps more worryingly, Saïx or even Xemnas himself?  
>Axel noticed my growing concern, and since Demyx had not joined us when we made our original visit, I started to fill them in on what they'd missed. Roxas had me turn that over to Goofy though.<br>_I've just seen something,_ he told me, clearly concerned. _You definitely need to see this yourself.  
><em>"About the Beast's Castle?" I asked quietly, leaving Goofy to explain to them. They'd become used to this happening by now, whether it was to write something in the book, or to talk to Roxas. I've never been comfortable talking to him as if he was really there with me; I always think people will think I'm insane, looking like I'm talking to myself. Can you blame me though?  
><em>You know I get them in pairs. One of them was about the Beast's Castle, but it was only small. All it showed was that Larxene's Absent Silhouette is going to show up in the Beast's room instead of Marluxia's, which you've already defeated.<br>_"So what's the other one that's got you so concerned?"  
><em>You'd better see this for yourself. I'm not sure if this will work mind, this is the first time I've tried to pass what I've seen on to you instead of my memory of it. Give me a moment.<br>_I waited, listening to Goofy talk about the Hydra at Olympus Coliseum, giving a slightly exaggerated account of our battle with it. After a few moments my view blurred out and changed to the view of another place entirely.  
>"The Land of Departure," Roxas told me. He and I were floating in the air. "We can't interact with anything, before you ask. Just watch and listen."<br>We were up near the castle itself, not far from a window. In the sky above, there was a bright light that shot downwards from a meteor shower, then a boy's face appeared in the window.  
>"Ventus," I murmured, seeing the resemblance to Roxas – or more likely, Roxas's to him.<br>Ven said something that we couldn't make out through the window, then jumped off the bed and ran out of his room. We followed his progress once he was outside the castle, watching him pause to attack a couple of wooden rigs, presumably meant for training, then he headed on down to a large grassy area to watch the meteor shower.  
>"That's it?" I asked Roxas as Ven dozed off.<br>"Keep watching," he replied as the view blurred slightly, then settled again. It was slightly later, and Aqua was now with Ven, both of them sat at the edge of this summit.  
>"Hey, Aqua," Ven said.<br>"Hm?"  
>"Y'ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?"<br>Aqua pondered for a moment, then answered, "Well, they say-"  
>"That every star up there is another world," Terra said. We'd seen him come up behind them.<br>"Terra," Aqua nodded to him.  
>"Hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own. The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns."<br>"What? I don't get it." Ven shook his head.  
>"In other words, they're just like you, Ven."<br>"What's _that_ meant to mean?"  
>"You'll find out someday, I'm sure."<br>"I wanna know-" he broke off, looking up sharply. "Look out!"  
>A larger streak of light was heading down for the summit. Aqua projected a blue barrier around them to keep them safe as the light shot past Roxas and me.<br>"This is where you need to pay attention," Roxas shouted over the roar that had accompanied it  
>The streak hit the ground with a rumble and then cleared. There was no damage, though the grass where it had impacted had experienced a sudden growth spurt, putting them at least waist-high. There was a human-shaped depression in the grass. From our vantage, I couldn't see who it was.<br>Then a voice came from the grass testily. "One of these days, I'm going to land on something soft. Like someone else, or... or..."  
>"Some cushions?" Aqua suggested, having come close. She extended a hand to the speaker. The voice I'd heard was familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.<br>"That'd do too," the voice replied brightly, though was still irritated. Then Aqua pulled, and the figure pulled himself up.  
>It was me. As Sora, but it was definitely me. That was why the voice seemed so familiar – it was Sora's borrowed by me still.<br>I watched myself look Aqua over, then examine the area, seeing Terra stood protectively in front of Ventus, then were I was.  
>"Oh, bugger," I muttered. Not me with Roxas, the one I was watching. "I guess this explains what he was up to."<br>"Explains what who was up to?" Aqua inquired.  
>"Better I don't say. You can call me Sora. I don't mean any harm to any of you." I thought for a moment, then added, "But I do need to talk to Master Eraqus. There are things he should know."<br>Ven looked past me, then said, "Uh... are they with you?"  
>"They?" I asked.<br>"Them," Terra pointed.  
>There were a number of Dusks and Sniper Nobodies making their way toward us.<br>"Leave this to me," I replied, drawing out both Keyblades – in my right hand was Fenrir, and in the left a Keyblade I knew I didn't have, but did recognise – Winner's Proof.  
>Then this vision cut off, and I was seeing the Gummi Ship again.<br>_That's all I saw,_ Roxas told me. _I'd say we just found out why people have been seeing you with Ven, but not how or why you're there.  
><em>"Or how to get back again," I replied. "This is definitely serious stuff. Do you know when it'll happen?"  
><em>No. I did try to figure out when, but it's hard to say. All I can tell you is that it'll be after you get the Ultima Weapon Keyblade, and that means somewhere in the Castle that Never Was.<br>_"Not soon then."  
><em>Probably not. That's mostly guesswork. There is one other thing, by the way. Check your pockets – Riku slipped something to you and none of us noticed.<br>_I searched myself, pulling out the collection of keychains I'd gathered. Among them was one I knew I hadn't had before – the black Kingdom Crown of Oblivion.


	56. Magic Hour

Beast's Castle appeared to first impressions to be unchanged and quiet as was to be expected. Beast himself, decked out in his finery, was nervously pacing the entrance hall in anticipation of Belle joining him.  
>On noticing us, he gave me a respectful and understanding nod, apparently recalling the warning I'd given him on our other visit about calling again, but as Axel still bore the black Organization coat, his lip curled back with a low growl when his eye passed over the Nobody.<br>"Stop that," I told him. "He's on our side now."  
>"He better be," Beast growled. "Tonight is very important."<br>"I know," I nodded. "That's why we're here – to stop anything trying to disrupt that. If I could ask you to allow Goofy to show Demyx here to your room, they'll stand watch over your rose."  
>"You think it's in danger?"<br>"Can't be too careful, can you? Better to have someone there just in case. Axel and I will stay with you. Belle would never forgive me if she knew I was here and I let something happen to you."  
>"Nor would she forgive me if I overlooked her own safety," Beast pointed out as Goofy led Demyx upstairs. "If I trusted him..." he trailed off.<br>"You heard what I said," I replied firmly. "I trust him, and if you trust me, you can trust him."  
>"Don't worry, Sora," Axel muttered. "I guess I might as well get used to that happening."<br>"Don't do that Axel," I told him. "You're not one of the Organization any more, even if your look says otherwise. I'm not having people treat you like this because of that."  
><em>At least until I figure out what he'll get to distinguish him,<em> Roxas added.  
>Beast had heard all of this exchange, except for Roxas's comment, and so reluctantly but gracefully gave in.<br>"You see to Belle," he told me. "Axel... can remain with me. Don't let anything happen to her Sora, or..."  
>I just winked at him and started up the staircase. I turned down the corridor to Belle's room, but she was already emerging in her dress.<br>"Sora!" she exclaimed. "Does he know you're here?"  
>"Naturally. Would you permit me to escort you downstairs, dear lady?" I asked offering her my arm. As I've said before, I know my manners – catch me at the right time and I can be such a gentleman that it hurts.<br>"So that's why you're here," she replied, taking the offer as she reached the stairs with me. "In case anything happens."  
>"I have it on good authority that something will try to happen, but don't let the Beast know."<br>"You trust me to know, but not him?"  
>"Let's just say I'd rather not bother him with the details. The two of you ought to enjoy this evening without disturbance. At least as far as I can allow, anyway."<br>We paused for a moment just a few steps down with Belle on my left so Beast could also admire the view, then he and Axel headed up the other stairs to meet us outside the Ballroom doors, where Beast took Belle's arm from me as we headed inside.  
>Lumiere was already there awaiting us, and bowed us each inside.<br>"Monsieur, Mademoiselle – please enjoy the evening. And of course, our honoured guests are welcome too," he added as Axel and I passed, then quieter. "Your friends, they are not with you?"  
>"One had business elsewhere, the other two are upstairs protecting the rose," I murmured back.<br>"But you came with only two last time," Lumiere pointed out.  
>"I made a few new friends since then. One's with Goofy upstairs, this here is Axel."<br>"A friend of his is ours as well," Lumiere declaimed with another bow to Axel. "You too are welcome."  
>I led Axel slightly further inside, keeping to the edge of the ballroom so as not to disturb Beast and Belle.<br>"Keep an eye on the gallery above," I murmured. "Someone is going to show up, but I can't tell who or where. I'd feel better with someone up there, but it'd take too long."  
>"I thought you knew everything?" Axel responded.<br>I gave him a sidelong glance. "How much did they tell you about me, Axel?"  
>"Not much," he replied. "Just that you could see the future or something. There was a rumour between Zexion and Vexen before Castle Oblivion that you're not who you say you are, but that was quashed by Saïx."<br>"Interesting," I noted. "It's not entirely accurate anyway. I get a rough idea of what'll happen, and sometimes things I've done disrupt what's meant to happen. Last time I was here I destroyed Xaldin, and that wasn't meant to happen until now, so that throws this entire visit up in the air. Unless Roxas passes me something he finds out, I've got very little to draw on."  
>"Why not just ask him then?"<br>"It doesn't work on demand. See anything yet?"  
>Axel peered up, then turned and walked backward beside me to look back toward the doors.<br>"Nothing yet. What's with the rose?"  
>"The rose is a part of the curse on the Beast. He's a human really. Prince Adam, to be exact. If something happens to the rose before he breaks the curse..."<br>"Point taken. What does he have to do to break it?"  
>"Love," I replied, watching the dancing couple. "He became what he is in part because of his inability to properly love or care for another. Now he has trouble believing anyone could possibly want to love him this way."<br>"And that makes it hard for him to love?"  
>"More that it makes it hard to for him to accept love. But so long as we prevent any interference, I'm pretty sure he'll achieve it before long and be human again."<br>We continued past the door leading outside, pausing to glance out and ensure there was no threat there. It was when we had almost completed our circuit of the room that there was any sign anything had happened.  
>"Did you hear that?" Axel asked me. "Sounded like glass shattering."<br>"I heard it too. That can't be a good sign." I hesitated for a moment. Send Axel to investigate and risk having to join him, or go there myself and risk whatever was going on taking advantage of my absence here?  
>"You go," Axel told me. "You can handle whatever happened better than me."<br>"What if something happens here though?"  
>"Send Demyx and Goofy to me as soon as you take charge of the situation. With the three of us and the Beast on hand, we'll be able to handle anything until you get back."<br>I nodded, running quickly to the ballroom doors, heading straight through the entrance hall to the courtyard outside, reasoning that I'd at least be able to see which window had smashed, if not what had caused it.  
>My suspicions weren't wrong – Demyx and Goofy were surrounded by Berserker Nobodies. A voice calling commands behind me directed my attention to an outside balcony that appeared to be just outside Belle's room, with Saïx stood on it.<br>"Come to join the party, Sora?" Saïx called down to me. You could almost hear the smirk in his voice – he _wanted_ this to happen.  
><em>Want my help?<em> Roxas asked me.  
>"Forget it," I replied, bringing Keyblades into view. "I can nail these guys myself."<br>The Berserker Nobodies, true to their name, had gone berserk and were paying no attention to Saïx or me. Due to their large size, all I had to do was destroy one of them from behind to give Demyx and Goofy an escape route, where I quickly directed them to go and join Axel in the Ballroom as the remaining Nobodies now closed on me.  
>Now I let them close in, and at the last moment I attempted to activate Limit form by itself, with none of the additions Roxas may have made at all. As I'd planned, one Berserker hit me just as I started, and it sent me straight into Anti-Form – just what I wanted.<br>The last and only other time I had used this form had been by accident way back in Timeless River, but this time was planned and deliberate. I already knew what this form was capable of and the sheer devastation it would have wrought on any lesser Heartless.  
>But the Berserker Nobodies are tougher customers that can wreak just as much havoc as I could in this form. Taking full advantage of what Anti-Form offered me was key here. I had the speed to circle around behind them, and swift attacks to get in a land a long streak of blows, and the reactions to get out again before the inevitable response, only to start anew on the next one.<br>This is not to say I got through it unscathed however. Several times my tactics fell apart because one Nobody shoved another aside and attacked me head on, which was not pleasant to say the least, and made it considerably more difficult to reach the Nobody itself instead of it's weapon.  
>Because of this, I reverted back out of Anti-Form without managing to destroy a single one of them, though they had all taken considerable damage. I drew back to a relatively safe distance to recover and reassess the situation.<br>Saïx was gone from the balcony, undoubtedly with the rose in one hand and going after Belle with the other. My original fears had been right – it had been a trap all along. If I'd sent Axel to go with them, I'd probably still have had to join the fight out here, leaving Belle and the Beast unprotected. In coming here myself, I'd at least prevented him from having immediate access to Belle.  
>But I could hardly leave these Nobodies to rampage. I had to deal with them before I found out what Saïx was up to now.<br>"Roxas," I breathed. "I think I'm going to need a hand here after all."  
><em>You need to recover before you can initiate another Drive form,<em> he told me. _You'll have to take them on as you are for a bit. Change your Keyblades though – get out Oathkeeper and Oblivion.  
><em>"What's wrong with these two?"  
><em>Nothing – but what I've got in mind will work better this way.<br>_Sound enough thinking. At least he had some idea of how to take on this rabble. Unfortunately, this pause had cost me the scant distance there was between me and them, and I was forced to fight my way past and through the Nobodies to break out of them and get clear again.  
>By sheer chance, the opportunity was given to me by one of the Nobodies. It smashed one of statues close to the door, and the secret door that Roxas enters the castle by on his initial visit was opened. Just small enough that neither they or their weapons could get inside to reach me, I ducked in and took advantage of the opportunity to exchange Fenrir and Fatal Crest for Oathkeeper and Oblivion. I reached for a potion too, but Roxas advised me to leave it instead. Now I understood why he wanted these Keyblades, and what he was up to.<br>One more time I fought my way through the cluster of Nobodies that were eagerly awaiting my emergence, taking yet more blows along the way, then they surrounded me.  
>"You picked the wrong guy to mess with," I grinned, knowing what was coming next and calling on Roxas. While I once more picked up his coat and all that went with it, he did not take over control this time, leaving this entirely in my hands.<br>_Let them close in a little more,_ Roxas told me. _Then go ahead and unleash merry hell on them.  
><em>It didn't take long for them to close ranks. I knew when it was just right to activate Roxas's other Limit Break, Magic Hour, with the same words he uses: "Give me strength!"  
>Watching Roxas perform Magic Hour is an impressive sight to see, let alone what it does to opponents. Being in the center of it while it decimates a surrounding contingent of Berserker Nobodies is one of the memories I'll never forget seeing.<br>Pulling that trick on them had a few unexpected side effects. While it also fully restored my health, not something it normally does, it also forcibly cancelled out the form, probably from using too much power. I don't know exactly why, but I decided this was a trick best saved for emergencies in future because of that.  
>Then I remembered I had business to attend to inside the castle too, reinforced by a roar from the Beast calling for me. Trouble waited inside for me.<p> 


	57. Dance of the Daring

When I re-entered the castle, it was clear that whatever was going on was still in the Ballroom. Sounds of fighting were coming from it, along with Beast's furious grunts. When I entered it became clear why.  
>A Nobody that appears only once to my knowledge, and then only to Roxas, was in the Ballroom – the Twilight Thorn. Except there was not just one of them, there were three, and each of them had an entourage of Berserker Nobodies and Neoshadow Heartless. Saïx himself stood on the gallery above, watching the scene with the rose held under one arm, and Belle's arm held tightly in the other.<br>Saïx did not yet appear to have noticed my return, so I quickly grabbed Axel in passing under the cover of the gallery.  
>"Tell Beast and the others I haven't abandoned them," I told him quietly. "I'm just going to find a better vantage to fight from."<br>Axel nodded and headed back into the fray, while I ducked back out of the Ballroom and outside again. The secret entrance that had been uncovered by the Berserker Nobodies outside was still open, giving me access to the old corridors above the entrance hall and the door that lead onto the Ballroom's Galleries.  
>I headed along them, making as little noise as I could until I reached that door, carefully easing it open so Saïx wouldn't notice. He was still there, watching the scene below. Belle noticed me, pausing in her struggles to get free, but hurriedly continued to struggle when I raised a finger to my lips, indicating she shouldn't show any sign of my presence.<br>I took hold of the glass case Beast's rose was in, just enough to avoid Saïx's notice, then gave him a solid shove from behind and pulled it from his grasp. He let go of Belle to steady himself, but I gave him a second push over the railings and down into to the path of a rampaging Berserker Nobody.  
>"Keep hold of this," I told Belle, handing her the rose.<br>"But what if he comes for me again?"  
>"Don't worry," I answered darkly. "He's going to have other things to worry about. Stay out of sight if you can."<br>"What about you? What will you do?"  
>"What I do best," I shrugged. "Save the day again."<br>From my vantage above the main battle, I could see things were not going well. Beast was engaging one Twilight Thorn and the surrounding Heartless and Nobodies, but was unable to properly attack any of them because of the sheer numbers. Demyx and Goofy were attempting to mop up the Heartless and Nobodies as best they could, but the Twilight Thorns made it difficult to reach them unharmed, and both they and the Berserker Nobodies seemed apt at striking true.  
>Axel meanwhile had his hands full with Saïx. While the massive claymore was slow to attack, Axel could respond quick enough to hold it off. The claymore's reach prevented him from reaching Saïx himself.<br>I was going to have to do something. After having used two Drive forms already outside, a third was probably not the best idea, but there seemed to be nothing for it. I re-shuffled the Keyblades to give me Fenrir and Fatal Crest again, though with Fenrir in my off-hand so when I pulled out Wisdom Form it took full advantage of Fatal Crest's magic boost, which would also amplify the effects of Zexion's Book of Retribution, also called in at the same time.  
>With this, I created a fair illusion of Magic Hour, which though weaker than the real counterpart had a wider range to it, and as with all my illusions was excluded from harming my friends. To make things more complex, I altered it so that they would instead be healed by it, which is harder than it sounds when using a light-based illusion on two Nobodies.<br>This severely weakened the opposition, and caused all but Saïx and the Twilight Thorns to flinch back with every strike of my illusion, allowing Beast to at last land decent attacks on his Twilight Thorn, then carving a path through the temporarily immobilized Neoshadows and Berserkers to reach the next Twilight Thorn and eliminate it too. The illusion completed as he reached the third, but Goofy quickly attracted the attention of the nearby Berserkers to keep them out of Beast's way while he handled the last of them.  
>Demyx began to mop up the Neoshadows, carefully avoiding the Berserkers though as they had almost universally gone berserk now. Only Axel and Saïx appeared to have ignored all this, still focused on each other. Axel was gradually having to give up ground, but each step back he took just took him further around the room, the same circuit he and I had made around the room originally, but carefully avoiding the pillars so Saïx couldn't corner him.<br>From up on the gallery, I was able to make full use of my remaining magic and the ability to shoot bolts directly from the Keyblade to take out the Berserkers in relative safety. As I'd already used two other Drive forms here though, my time in Wisdom form was extremely limited, and it wasn't long before I reverted and had to jump down, using a handy Berserker Nobody as a stepping stone so I didn't hurt myself, destroying it in the process.  
>"Sora!" Belle called to me from the far gallery. I destroyed another Berserker and glanced up, seeing her running from a pair of Neoshadows.<br>"Demyx! Get some water up to link the ends of the galleries!" I commanded, taking out some of the Neoshadows that had come for me.  
>"It won't support her weight, Sora!" Demyx warned.<br>"Leave that to me," I answered, continuing to clear the remaining opponents. As soon as Demyx had it in place, I grunted, "Deep Freeze!" to emphasize the Blizzard spell sent at it, freezing it in place with a series of loud cracking sounds. "Run Belle!" I told her.  
>"Sora, behind you!" Goofy warned me. I turned quickly to see one of the last Berserkers raising its sword over my head, so hit it as hard as I could with both Keyblades, sending it stumbling back into a pillar and dropping its sword on its own foot to destroy itself.<br>When I turned back to the temporary ice bridge, I saw Belle was almost over it. One of the Neoshadows had followed her, but the other had stopped and seemed to be examining itself in the reflection. I sent a round of Fire spells at the ice to melt it, causing the Neoshadow on it to come crashing to the ground, the impact destroying it.  
>The other Neoshadow jerked its head up quickly, realizing what had happened, and started back around the galleries to intercept Belle from the other side.<br>We quickly mopped up the last few Heartless, as the Nobodies were all gone now but for Saïx, then I had Goofy give me a hand boosting Demyx up onto the gallery to defend her. Then Goofy and I joined Axel, causing Saïx to step back warily – Axel alone he had appeared to be handling, but with all three of us he seemed more concerned.  
>With good reason too – remember way back in Deep Jungle, I'd come up with my own Limit? I used the same idea again here, except with Axel taking Donald's place, and I focused on fire-based attacks myself to complement Axel's own ones, surrounding us in a whirlwind of blazing fire that even Saïx could not keep blocking for long.<br>When that finished and we stepped back ready to take on Saïx again, Saïx moved clear of us clearly in a bad way, quickly summoning a dark corridor to escape from us. I had hoped to destroy him too, but sensibility reminded me that would change a great deal – and probably not for the better.  
>"That's all of 'em," Demyx called down to us. "You got 'em all. Say, like the new look, Axel."<br>Axel looked puzzled for a moment, then looked at himself. Gone was the black coat, in place of it black pants and a short-sleeved shirt to match. Around the cuffs and other edges were a trim made from a pattern of fire licking up.  
>"I like it," he grinned. "It suits me."<br>"Roxas says you're welcome," I told him. "Has anyone seen the Beast?"  
>"I'm here," he replied, coming through the Ballroom doors. "I went after some of those big white ones that went out of the room in case they were going after Belle. Is she...?"<br>"Safe?" Demyx called down. "You bet. We'll be down in just a few," he promised.  
>I asked Goofy to meet him and take the rose back to Beast's room while Axel and I remained to watch over the Ballroom once more. Beast handed me a new keychain as thanks for my aid, the chain for Rumbling Rose, and Axel also took that as a cue to pull out a chain he'd found left in his pocket for Bond of Flame, netting me two new Keyblades. Not ones I was likely to use though, not since Fenrir and Fatal Crest gave me a powerful boost to both strength and magic.<br>Then Demyx turned up to hand Belle over to Beast and joined us as we stood guard over their dance, then when Goofy rejoined us we politely excused ourselves to the ornaments, asking them to apologise for the happy couple for not sticking around. I was certain nothing else was going to happen here now. Maybe Saïx would hold a grudge against me for continuing to get in his way, but I doubted he'd do anything about it right away.  
>Just before we left though, I recalled I had yet to take on Larxene's Absent Silhouette. I would go into detail, but unfortunately her comments seemed limited to remarking that even working together Roxas and I didn't stand a chance. To say the least, we quickly disabused her of that notion, defeating her in what was probably record time and claiming her knives.<br>So we boarded the Gummi Ship, whereupon Chip and Dale contacted us about some strange readings near Twilight Town – its simulated counterpart starting to show up, no doubt. There was little to be done about that right now however, and so we stopped by in Olympus Coliseum, only to find that aside from several tournaments becoming available in the Underdrome, the plot here had yet to be advanced, and so we moved on to Port Royal.  
>Or at least, we tried to, but we passed the as-yet unopened route to Atlantica through Splash Island. Demyx, being associated with water, naturally wanted to go, so I reluctantly indulged them and we visited that world. Axel, like me, took on a silver tail, while Demyx gained a blue one, but otherwise they experienced the same changes I did. I still had a little trouble with the water, but not nearly as much as I had on my original visit.<br>We took part in the first four songs of the world – I won't go into detail here, there's not exactly anything important to mention. Demyx took Donald's place when we were singing Swim This Way, while Axel filled in on Under the Sea, and we all took part in Ursula's Revenge. I felt a little guilty for leaving Donald out, but Demyx had requested we come here, and it seemed fair to do something for him.  
>We couldn't do the final song here yet though, so with those four out the way and the Mysterious Abyss Keyblade gained from completing Ursula's Revenge, we finally made it to Port Royal. Only seven Keyblades left to get on this trip before the Moogles would bring me a newly re-forged Ultima Weapon Keyblade, or at least I assumed so if Sora had made that alteration for this adventure as he had for the last one.<p> 


	58. Risky Gamble

On arriving at Port Royal, I immediately headed down to the port to meet Jack, who was being pursued from some more cursed pirates – suspicious in itself, as the Aztec curse had been lifted, else how would we have managed to defeat Barbossa?  
>"Ahoy, Captain!" I called to him as we came on the scene. "Need a hand?"<br>"Impeccable timing, mate," he replied, neatly skewering one pirate and sending him reeling back toward us and the intervening moonlight. Goofy's shield smashed into the pirate's side sent his bones flying into the bay, or at least the top half. The legs wandered aimlessly around until they were sent after their owner.  
>The remaining undead pirates were not much of a challenge. Perhaps so for a lone pirate Captain caught unawares, but Jack was cunning enough to get himself mostly out of danger, and the rest of the way out with our help.<br>"Hey, Sora," Demyx said afterwards. "I thought you guys broke the curse here?"  
>"We did. This is... well, never mind that," I finished, realizing that to properly free Jack from this new curse, he'd have to properly come to terms with it. "Could we impose on your seamanship again, Captain Sparrow? I think we have a stone chest to track down, wouldn't you say?"<br>"You might," he nodded, "But what of these two mates of yours? I don't recall seeing them last time."  
>"New friends," I brushed it aside. "Donald is... indisposed, but don't be concerned about that. I'll be rescuing him soon."<br>"And will they serve under a pirate, like you?"  
>"Naturally."<br>"Jack! Sora!" Elizabeth called to us, running down from the town.  
>"Perhaps we should make our departure sooner rather than later," he suggested, starting back toward the ship. I caught his arm though.<br>"Let's here what she has to say, Jack. After all... if it hadn't been for her last time, Barbossa might well have lifted the curse without ever seeing you."  
>"Jack, wait," Elizabeth insisted, catching up with us. "I need your help. Those cursed pirates have returned."<br>"We know," Axel said. "We just finished off a bunch of them."  
>Elizabeth glanced to me distrustfully, but I nodded to show she could trust him.<br>"Well, Will went to find out why, trying to find the Isle de Muerta to check on the treasure, but I fear something's happened."  
>"I imagine you'd rather not mention that without a certain compass, he cannot find the island in the first place?" Jack suggested.<br>"That too," she agreed absently. "He's been gone too long, Jack. I can't sit and wait for him any longer."  
>"She has a point, Jack," I murmured.<br>"Hold on a moment here mates. Are you ganging up against me or something? There's no profit in this for me."  
>"You'll have your pick of reward. And of course, you do owe Will – he saved your life."<br>"This was why you held me back, isn't it?" Jack asked me. "Can't ye tell me these things before?"  
>"But think of all the fun you have this way, finding out for yourself," I teased him.<br>"Ah, well we can't be missing out on fun now, can we?" he replied with only the faintest hints of sarcasm.  
>It was nice to be back aboard the Pearl once back at sea. It's not just Demyx who has an affinity for water, but in my case it's the sea herself. Jack quickly reminded me to pay attention though, putting me in charge of teaching Axel what the rest of us already knew. Once he was pulling his weight as well, albeit with the odd complaint, Goofy scrambled up to the crow's nest to keep a lookout.<br>During a quiet moment, I joined Jack up beside the wheel.  
>"Did you give any more thought to my offer?" he asked before I'd even said anything.<br>"Which offer was that?"  
>"About coming pirating with me. Don't tell me you've forgotten that already."<br>"I've got a lot on my mind," I chuckled. "Kinda makes it hard to remember the little things. It's a tempting offer Jack, don't get me wrong, but there's things I have to do. That's what I wanted to talk about actually."  
>"Oh, no mate. You're not roping me into whatever trouble you're in."<br>"Too late, actually. There are these people we're hunting down that wear black coats. Axel and Demyx both used to be among them, but I subverted them."  
>"I don't see how that means we're in trouble."<br>"You didn't let me finish. The Organization is here in this world, and they're involved in what's going on."  
>"Including the curse?"<br>"Sort of. But don't worry, you're only likely to encounter them on this visit. Once I leave again, they won't show up. But my hunt won't end there – I've got to track the last of them down and stop them."  
>"If you're in need of a ship to reach them, you know where to come."<br>"I think I've got it in hand for now thanks."  
>"If you know what they're doing though-"<br>"Why don't I just intercept them before they act? Take preventative measures? Believe me, I've tried doing that before. It never turns out well."  
>"Interceptor off the starboard bow!" Goofy called down to us.<br>"That's our cue," I muttered, heading back down on deck. The Interceptor was drifting with the sails furled up and no one aboard at all, save only for Will draped over one of the railings.  
>We used boat hooks on ropes and long poles to haul her alongside, then ran out a gangplank to board her. Elizabeth and Jack took Will to the Captain's stateroom aboard the Interceptor with the help of Demyx and Axel. Goofy and I waited outside. I quickly filled him in on what Will would be telling the others, keeping a close eye on both ships.<br>Jack almost burst out of the stateroom with Axel and Demyx not far behind.  
>"Your captain will be having no monsters aboard ship today!" he almost snapped at me. "We're going home."<br>"We've been through this Jack," I sighed. "You have to put up with your share of them to be rid of the curse again."  
>"I don't recall asking you for your help this time Sora," he replied bluntly.<br>"We can fight over it, but it won't make a difference. He's already here," I added, nodding toward the front of the ship, where Luxord had appeared though without the chest.  
>"I don't remember inviting you," Jack remarked, still somewhat irritated.<br>"You needn't bother with the hood, Luxord," I told him. "There's no point with only a few of you left."  
>"Perhaps," Luxord replied, shaking the hood back. "But what about you? Is there any point to what you're doing? Doesn't our friend here," he indicated Jack. "Want immortality anyway? And now he has it. Would you take that from him?"<br>"I'm not one to argue the point," Jack said. "But this isn't the kind of immortality I had in mind."  
>"Will you risk all to be rid of it?" Luxord asked with a raised eyebrow. He raised one hand, and the Grim Reaper Heartless burst out of the water nearby, the massive axe in hand already swinging. Luxord chuckled, then stepped back into a corridor. Axel was on the attack almost before Luxord had disappeared, with Jack not far behind. I watched for a few moments as Demyx and Goofy joined in, moving not far from where Luxord would reappear, then waiting. Once the Heartless had been hit out above the water, a single Gravity spell sent it plunging back down to the depths again.<br>Predictably, Luxord reappeared nearby, this time with the chest.  
>"Throw him overboard!" Jack commanded.<br>"With pleasure," I grinned, turning to face Luxord and drawing my Keyblades at last.  
>"Parley!" Luxord cried, but too late – I slammed into him, sending him to the deck.<br>I was raising my Keyblades to strike him again when Jack called out, "Sora! Leave him be. Anyone who invokes-"  
>"I know the code," I snapped back. "But I'm fairly sure I heard him say Barley, not Parley, so excuse me a moment while I finish this troublesome Nobody."<br>"That's what you think," Luxord told me. My pause to respond to Jack had given him the chance to get free enough to kick me back off him. "Gamblers!" he snarled, getting to his feet. Six of them appeared with a crackling sound. Four of them seized medallions from the chest then soared up into the sky and away in various directions, while the remaining two picked up the chest and headed off in a different direction.  
>By the time I'd scrambled back to my feet the Nobodies were long gone, with the exception of Luxord, who had boarded the Black Pearl. Several Dusks now manned her, quickly cutting the lines we'd used to pull the Interceptor in and withdrawing the gangplank.<br>"Sorry Jack, I don't have time to explain," I said, snatching his compass off him, then taking a running jump over the widening gap between the two ships just as Luxord commanded, "Fire!"  
>I made it, though only just. I had to quickly push against the railings to ensure I didn't fall back off the ship, then just as quickly handle the Dusks, which were swarming me.<br>Once I got past the initial rush of them though, I made a beeline for Luxord. He drew out his cards, possibly one of the most ridiculous weapons I've ever seen – even Marluxia's scythe is more useful than a pack of cards. Did he ever get the raw end of the deal there, but when you consider what he does with them in the battle in the World that Never was...  
>"Your cards won't save you here," I told him grimly, batting away several more Dusks.<br>"Neither will blind luck serve you," he retorted, flinging several at me. I swung the Keyblades alternately with tight control to neatly slice each one up before it reached me, then when he drew out a second pack of cards I sent Fire at him, toasting the cards and scorching his hands. Then I resumed my steady, menacing advance on him.  
>"Just you and three others left," I said. "And each of them I've defeated before, except Xigbar."<br>"You should have destroyed the others when you had the chance," Luxord said. "You've no idea what they have in store for you, Sora. Oh wait. I forgot. That's not your name, is it Liam? That's right, we all know the truth – only Axel and Demyx don't, and that's because they turned traitor before they were told."  
>"Knowing my real name doesn't do you any good," I shrugged. "You don't know the slightest thing about me. If it were really Sora you were up against, you'd have so much of an easier ride... I'm not so gentle." Now he was almost cornered at the prow of the ship.<br>Luxord smirked at me, one hand reaching out behind him. "Don't be so sure," he told me, opening a corridor. I made a lunge for him, but he stepped into the corridor before I could reach him, and I'm not fool enough to run headlong into a dark corridor without knowing where it leads, or what could be waiting for me. "Saïx made several special visits to places to find out all about you, and what he knows..." he trailed off as the corridor closes.  
><em>Xemnas probably also knows,<em> Roxas finished for me. _This could be trouble, especially since only a handful of our allies know the truth about you.  
><em>"You're telling me."  
><em>Why did you steal Jack's compass, by the way?<br>_"Watch and learn," I replied, finishing off the last of the Dusks, then I announced, "You can come out now. It's safe." Will's head cautiously poked out of the Captain's Cabin. "I've got Jack's Compass, so we can find our way to him," I added.  
>"What he said... about you-"<br>"Don't pay it any attention," I shook my head. "It's nothing to be concerned with. Now, why don't we find Jack and get him over his curse?"  
><em>But you know where he is, <em>Roxas protested as I helped him and Elizabeth with the ship.  
>"I do," I agreed under my breath. "But I don't know where that is in relation to us."<br>_And you couldn't just stay with Jack why?  
><em>"Because I wanted to get Luxord out of the way early."  
><em>Are you serious? You've seen the kind of ramifications that has – just look at the Beast's Castle!<br>_"Luxord has a relatively minor role to play though. This appearance here, and one more on the way to Xemnas. That's about it really. Anyway, that's not what's bothering me."  
><em>It's what he said, isn't it?<br>_"I'm going to have problems on my hand if either Saïx or Xemnas reveal who I am, especially if Donald's with me. Out of all of the others, he's the one I think is most likely to figure it out for himself."


	59. Bladed Battles

Though there were just the three of us aboard the Black Pearl, we were able to use Jack's compass to reach the ship graveyard where the battered remains of the Interceptor had ended up. I persuaded Will and Elizabeth to remain on board, then disembarked with his compass to get back to him.  
>I found him with the others, taking on a Gambler Nobody with one of the medallions. Without a Keyblade, it was clear it was taking some time, so I made my way above it, then as it tried to escape from them I struck it down, catching the medallion before it dropped and tossing it to Jack.<br>"You know Jack, I seem to be getting you out of all kinds of tight spots lately," I remarked slyly. "Here's your compass back, by the way."  
>"You could have just asked," he told me with a faint edge.<br>"There wasn't enough time. I did say. The other three medallions are also being held by similar Gambler Nobodies that are over at the Isle de Muerta, by the way. The chest isn't there, but the Gamblers are."  
>"How're we gonna get there though?" Goofy asked me.<br>"Nothing simpler. I brought the Pearl with me, along with Will and Elizabeth."  
>"And that Luxord?" Jack asked, brightening.<br>"No, he managed to escape before I could corner him. Don't worry about that though – we'll see him again when we go after the chest."  
>With that sorted, I showed them the way back to the Pearl where Will confirmed my story for Jack, having seen the whole confrontation with Luxord, though he omitted the details of what Luxord and I had discussed. Will's sharp enough to know when to leave something like that alone without needing any prompting.<br>At the Isle de Muerta, we encountered another Absent Silhouette. I forget which one it should have been, but it was plainly obvious that this one belonged to Lexaeus. I put off challenging it until after we'd found and defeated the remaining three Gamblers, and as they weren't much challenge to defeat with all of us on hand, it wasn't long before I was facing the Absent Silhouette again.  
>As usual, only Roxas and I appeared in the mimicked room of Castle Oblivion, in this case one of its many white rooms between the floors, except this room had no such doors to other floors – it was a facsimile of the room and nothing more.<br>Roxas appeared thoughtful for a moment, glancing to one hand. "I think I'll try something new," he murmured to himself, then Larxene's knives appeared between his fingers.  
>"You're seriously going to use them?" I asked him in disbelief.<br>"Well one of us has to. And if I can figure out the best way to use them, then you get to steal that from me."  
>"Assuming you survive this," Lexaeus's harsh voice told us bluntly. "I told you not to poke around where you shouldn't be," he added to Roxas.<br>"And I told you I had no reason to listen to you," he replied matter-of-factly. "If I hadn't poked around, I'd never have found out what you, Xaldin and Zexion had planned at Castle Oblivion."  
>"What's this?" I asked curiously. "Xaldin was in on their side of the plot at Castle Oblivion?"<br>"It was Xaldin's idea," Roxas explained. "He was the one who arranged for Marluxia and Larxene to be assigned there so they could get rid of them."  
>"Except I did it for them."<br>"And you left us with the problem of Riku," Lexaeus told me. "Riku turned out to be too much for us to handle once you were out of the picture."  
>"What a shame," I grinned sardonically. "And now I suppose you've turned up to get revenge for me sicking him on you."<br>"Or to finish the job they should have started, and eliminate you from the Superior's path," he shrugged, bringing out his massive axe sword, Skysplitter, into view, hefting it easily in one hand.  
>I started forward to counter this with the Keyblades in hand, but Roxas laid a hand on my shoulder and shook his head.<br>"Let me," he whispered, then he continued my advance for me while I watched. "You'll have to go through me first. And I doubt you're up to the task."  
>Lexaeus didn't bother to respond, merely standing and waiting. Roxas continued calmly onwards, showing no sign of trickery, no magic, just the knives in his hands. When he drew close enough, Lexaeus raised his blade and brought it down to what would have been Roxas's head, but my Nobody had darted aside almost as soon as Lexaeus had raised Skysplitter, neatly avoiding it and giving him the chance to make a series of jabs with the knives.<br>While Lexaeus did not flinch back from them, he did give several grunts of pain as Skysplitter made its descent. Once down, he whirled with surprising speed, bringing the blade with him with the flat of it aimed right for Roxas.  
>Again he got clear, this time by jumping back out of range. He caught my eye, winked and nodded toward Lexaeus, indicating that it was my turn now. As Lexaeus had been busy swinging his own blade, he'd missed this signal to me and continued to bear down on Roxas, who just gave up ground step by step, swing by swing.<br>I closed in as quickly as I dared while remaining quiet enough for him not to realize the subterfuge, catching up just as Roxas was only steps away from being cornered. I tapped Lexaeus's shoulder with the end of one Keyblade, as he was just a bit too tall for me to reach up and not be too close to hit.  
>"Excuse me," I said politely as I did so. He turned to look at me. "Thanks," I grinned, then gave him the flat of Fenrir to the face, causing him to turn a bit further, then I swung upwards with Fatal Crest to catch him under the chin. A low kick aimed at where I judged his ah... more sensitive region struck true, making him double over, then Roxas neatly finished things by pulling Skysplitter from him, taking it in both hands because it was the only way he could lift it, then slamming it down on Lexaeus's unprotected back. The impact of it caused him to vanish before he could even make a comment.<br>"Excuse me?" Roxas asked me incredulously. "_Excuse me_?" Then he just burst out laughing.

The journey back to Port Royal was considerably more eventful than any of the previous voyages taken in this world, with us being attacked by every known kind of Nobody we'd seen before and a multitude of Heartless. In the end, we got around it simply by crewing the Pearl with Roxas's Samurai Nobodies, as they could help us sail her and fight to protect her at the same time. Jack had some misgivings about them as they too were Nobodies, but seemed to trust my word about them, and after one of them took a shot from a cannon-like Heartless that had been meant for him, his viewpoint began to change.  
>As soon as we disembarked again, it was clear we had come to the right place – the chest was unprotected and unguarded. We handed the four medallions to Jack, who dropped them back into the chest while in full view of the moonlight.<br>Nothing happened.  
>"Now I know there were only four medallions missing," he insisted. "So what's this?"<br>"You weren't cursed by the medallions," I explained. "Just that Heartless which Luxord dropped on us. But with the medallions back in the chest, it's vulnerable and should be showing up about now."  
>As if on cue – I love it when that happens – the Grim Reaper burst out of the water, somehow contriving to look furious, probably about what I'd done to it last time we'd met. It dived for us, causing us all to scatter to keep clear, but also allowing it to scatter the medallions from the chest, which restored it's invulnerable form.<br>"The medallions!" Goofy exclaimed, but Demyx, looking uncharacteristically annoyed, whipped out his sitar.  
>"This one's mine," he almost growled, playing a harsher tone to normal. The water in the harbour rose up rapidly, crashing ashore to scoop up and begin to shift the medallions. But the tide was turning and heading out, causing them to head for the sea.<br>"Demyx!" I snapped. "Stop playing, or we'll lose them to the ocean! Leave the medallions to me, and concentrate on fighting it!"  
>"But we can't hurt it if the medallions are scattered!"<br>"You don't have to – just keep it off me!"  
>That message got through at least, as Axel dived for several medallions that were dangerously close to being lost. He tossed them to me, then joined the effort to distract the Heartless. I on the other hand had a simple solution. I used Magnet to pull the medallions to me, while I stood beside the chest. So long as I focused on just the loose medallions, those in the chest would be unaffected, and I could safely direct them into the chest without issue.<br>The Grim Reaper once more became vulnerable, allowing them all to stop just distracting it and dish out damage en masse, with support from my own magic along the way. I didn't get too far from the chest though, knowing that it'd scatter them again before long.  
>True enough, it created a small gale that threw the others around, sending medallions flying. I held onto the chest, which being solid stone was going nowhere fast, using Magnet to keep the medallions from being flung too far away. The wind prevented them from reaching me, but kept them from being lost, at least. One last cast just as the wind died started funnelling them back to me with the last of my magic expended, giving it only a brief moment of invulnerability this time.<br>It seemed to realize at that point that I was the greatest threat to it so long as I could still cast Magnet, and it didn't seem to know I had no magic left in the tank to do so, but even so it homed in on me, ignoring the others completely.  
>I had to dodge its own swinging axe and dives for me, and try to hurt it at the same time, all while keeping it from reaching the chest. Axel and Demyx broke off their support to shift the massive stone lid back onto the chest so the medallions couldn't be taken again.<br>As the lid was pushed on, the Grim Reaper grew more and more desperate in its attacks, trying to finish me as soon as it could so it could stop them from replacing the lid. I was forced to stop dodging and block almost constantly, reacting as quickly as I could to avoid harm, and even then it still caught me a few times.  
>Then Roxas came to the rescue, telling me to call on Valor form and our new acquisition of Skysplitter. I drew back from the Heartless so it couldn't send me into Anti-Form, which in itself almost sent me into the water, then pulled out our newest trick in the book.<br>Skysplitter isn't just heavy. It weights far too much for that. It was all I could do just to raise it up. I managed to take one unsteady swing with it, which shattered the Grim Reaper's axe, then steadied myself and took a second one, sending it reeling back. I landed blow after blow on it, though the weight and the effort needed got to me even more after each successive blow, until at last it faded into the darkness, defeated. The heart was claimed by Luxord, who stuck around only long enough to do so before he disappeared off again.  
>Jack was clearly free of the curse this time.<br>"There we go," Demyx said to him. "All better."  
>"Not quite," Jack disagreed. "There's a small matter of a reward I was promised."<br>"And there I was thinking you'd actually turned over a new leaf," Elizabeth said. "That you actually wanted to save everyone here in Port Royal."  
>"Ah, but a pirate always looks to profit from any venture, Miss Swan."<br>"Oh... very well... what do you want, Jack?"  
>"Let me guess," I said, then held out my Keyblades. "You want one of these."<br>"Are you sure you can't stick around to take up my offer, Sora?" he asked me suspiciously.  
>"Quite sure. Go ahead, Jack. Take one of them."<br>Jack looked suspicious, then took hold of Fenrir, though leaving it in my hand.  
>"Hmm... something about this is just too easy," he murmured, then tugged it free from my hand. Naturally, it flashed back into my own.<br>"Catch is, you can only keep it if the Keyblade decides to let you," I told him. "Maybe someday it will, but it doesn't look like that's today. At least you've got the Black Pearl back though."  
>"Aye," he conceded. "I do. But someday I'll come after you to take that blade from you, and maybe by then I'll be able to take it up. And if I do..."<br>"Then I'll come pirating with you," I suggested.  
>"Deal," he agreed, proffering one hand, and we shook on it. I suppose I probably should have told him he'd never actually see me again once I left Port Royal, but at least it would keep him occupied until he had to deal with the Kraken, Davy Jones and all that goes with them.<p> 


	60. Enter the Underdrome

I'd been torn trying to decide which would to visit next. After having gone to the Underworld before Port Royal only to find it wasn't time to me to be there yet, I realized I had no way of telling which worlds I needed to go to, and which ones I still had to complete others before going to. Roxas solved it for us by directing is back the way we came; Olympus Coliseum.  
>Auron did not join us when we arrived, unlike our previous visit where he'd remained in the Underworld's atrium when we'd gone. Apparently he wasn't able to leave the Underworld. I don't think I mentioned it when I was busy telling you about my last visit here, but it's true all the same – he never once accompanied me when I left the Underworld.<br>We did see the Underdrome while there, which I explained to the others had once been sealed away by Zeus, but in unsealing the lock to retrieve Megara, we'd let it loose again. I've often wondered what Zeus thought of that, but perhaps fortunately I never found out.  
>There didn't seem to be any point in taking part in the few tournaments available just yet, remembering that Sora had repeatedly insisted I wasn't going to get into them if he had anything to say about it. I imagine I could have checked in with him, waiting for him to go to sleep then done it, but the book tends to give him an idea of what I'm thinking too, so he'd see through it.<br>That left us with one choice. Go and see Hercules, who was still in the same emo-moment he'd been in when we left.  
>"You can't go sitting around moping all the time like this," I told him insistently. "If you don't get up and do something about it, you'll never get back on form."<br>"The fuzzy kid has a point, Blunderboy," Hades agreed, appearing nearby.  
>"Don't call me that," I said absently. "Just because the Underdrome is back doesn't mean you get to swan around like you're some kind of god."<br>Hades stared at me for a moment before erupting, fairly literally. "I am the God of the Underworld, in case you've forgotten!"  
>"Really? Sorry, I was mistaking you for the God that acts like a spoiled brat, a bully and a complete idiot besides. My bad." Demyx masked a few sniggers at this.<br>"Sora, is that right?" Hercules asked me. "The Underdrome is back?"  
>"You heard him right," Hades seethed. "And you are going to fill the stands. After all, even the Underworld has fans of yours, and they won't settle for anything less than a certified Hero. Or you could, y'know... just lose."<br>"You're neglecting to tell him that if he doesn't take part, you're going to drop Megara, who you've kidnapped again – very clichéd of you, by the way – into a deeper part of the Underworld," I said.  
>"Will you stop ruining my schemes!" Hades demanded.<br>"Of course not," I smirked. "That's what my job around here is. If I were a God, I'd be the God of annoying you."  
>"I don't know – first you get rid of most of my Unversed, then you team up with them to take that Cloud off me, and now you're meddling again! I'll get at you too for this, see if I don't!" Then Hades vanished.<br>"Unversed?" Hercules wondered aloud. "That was a long time ago now. Was he really talking about you Sora?"  
>"Someone else by the same name as me," I replied absently. Once more, I'd shown up in Ven's past. Just how long had I accompanied him, and for what reason? Surely if I'd ended up back then somehow, I'd be focused on trying to find a way back again.<br>"Guess that just leaves one thing then. I've gotta go into Hades' games."  
>"Not alone you don't," Megara told him. "Sora and his friends will go with you, won't they?"<br>"You think I was going to leave them behind?" Hercules winked back at her.

Despite his slightly more upbeat attitude, Hercules was still certain he was never going to be the Hero he had been again, which made him a bit of a drag in the first rounds of the Hades cup. I'd written a brief note to Sora beforehand reminding him there was no way for me to get out of this one, to which he'd responded, 'Well don't make it a habit, will you?' Charming. What did he think I was going to do, lose?  
>After the first round of the tournament, there was a delay while we waited for the other matches to take place, where I started planning. First I sent Axel down to Hades' chamber, knowing he'd be able to handle himself if anything came up in there.<br>He almost went for the boats to reach there, but remembered he was still a Nobody and simply went by dark corridor instead. Sometimes I wish I could do that, but the consequences...  
>Axel's mission was simply to ensure that the statuette of Auron containing his free will was there. He returned without a problem and with the report that it was there, and apparently unguarded.<br>We still had plenty of time to spare before our next round, even with Hades making the lot of us go first every time. He _really_ wanted the crowds of the dead to see us fight. In that time, I had Demyx control the water of the intervening lake separating the Underdrome from the Underworld itself, allowing us to cross it safely without taking a boat, as that would have raised suspicions.  
>This time, it was me who went across, with Demyx as I needed him to cross back again. Axel and Goofy had promised to cover for us if the next match started before we got back, and would fight alongside Hercules just as we had when I was there.<br>Demyx waited for me on the Underworld shore of the lake, while I headed back down into the Underworld itself, making use of the skateboard left nearby the entrance to speed the journey. Don't ask me to do the same out in the real world; I've got absolutely no sense of balance. Asking me to ride a skateboard is just an open invitation for me to make an ass of myself... again. But I had Roxas with me, who'd had plenty of time to hone that skill himself, so I simply borrowed that off him to prevent me from doing the same here.  
>The board was left behind before I started down the steps into Hades' chamber, as it would only have made noise going down there that I didn't want, just in case there was anyone there. That turned out to be a good move, as Hades himself was in there, along with Maleficent. Both were stood at one window, looking out over the Underworld.<br>"You weren't exactly helpful last time, y'know," Hades was saying to here when I sneaked in.  
>"As I recall, last time you told me I wasn't invited," Maleficent replied. "So I left you to fight to your heart's content. And look what happened."<br>"If it hadn't been for the little brat's meddling, there wouldn't have been any trouble in the slightest. If Cloud had finished him off instead of losing to him, he'd never have had the chance. But now he's up there in the Underdrome, set on helping Hercules out. He can't leave without Pain and Panic taking him back," he went on. The statue of Auron was on a shelf just to one side of Hades. If he turned around at the wrong moment, I'd be done for. I ignored the risk though, watching them carefully as I continued toward it, keeping slow so no sound would betray me. "It's the perfect trap, can't you see? Just put the drop on him while he's there..."  
>"And with what do you propose I 'put the drop on him'?" Maleficent inquired. "My Heartless were decimated when the Organization attacked them at Hollow Bastion. All I have left would simply be a distraction for him."<br>"C'mon, there's gotta be something you can do. You've always got a backup plan, or so you kept telling us."  
>I was almost there now. Maleficent looked toward Hades though, and I ducked down behind the massive stone slab in the middle of the room, hoping she hadn't seen me.<br>"There may indeed be something I can do... but if I were to go ahead, you should know that the beings I call into existance in the Underdrome will be beyond the control of either of us."  
>I cautiously peeked up. Maleficent appeared not to have noticed me, and was once more looking out over the Underworld. I took my chance, getting up with a hand around the crown around my neck to stop it from making any sound, reaching for the statuette.<br>"Believe me, anything's worth it if it rids me of the lot of them at once. Those Organization folks will probably be pretty happy to, as I understand it," he added with a wide wave of one arm that I had to rapidly duck under, cutting me off from the statuette momentarily. I was able to retrieve it afterwards though, starting to make my way out when Hades continued, "Had one of them show up here just before the kid turned up, telling me they'd make it worth my time to eliminate the two traitors of theirs with him."  
>"As if I'd let them," I breathed, willing myself to keep calm and not rush. Rushing would have attracted attention, which in turn would reveal to Hades that he was wrong, and I had been able to leave.<br>"Very well then," Maleficent said as I got out of sight and started up the stairs again. "I will summon you some allies... but then I take my leave once more. I have other business to be seeing to."  
>So Maleficent was going to meddle too, was she? Two can play at that game, I decided. The skateboard once more provided a quick route back, and Demyx almost rushed to get the two of us back before the next match started, leaving us with only moments between our arriving and the second round.<br>We aced that too, even with Hercules being a bit of a drag, but we didn't see Auron. My chances of catching him before we faced him were not looking high.  
>Though we had a shorter time between this round and the next one, there was still enough time for me to make arrangements to counter Maleficent's meddling. I took out the book, hoping Sora was paying attention, and wrote, 'Want your help, if you're around. If not, probably too late.'<br>'Don't be silly,' Sora wrote back. 'You think I'm letting you go through this without keeping an eye on you? What do you want done?'  
>'See if you can get us a little extra help when we have to face Auron. I think Maleficent's going to interfere where she's not meant to, and I want to be prepared for it.'<br>'Didn't I tell you I wasn't going to make any more changes? You've done enough as it is.'  
>'Suit yourself. But if I get taken out by whatever she pulls in, it's your fault.'<br>'Fine, but if anything happens because of this, it's not just your fault, but you get to clean it up on your own. I'm not going risk making things any more worse than they already are.'  
><em>Tell him things aren't as bad as he thinks they are,<em> Roxas told me.  
>'I saw that,' Sora wrote before I did anything. 'You don't have the advantage of an outside view, Roxas.'<br>_And he doesn't have the inside view I keep getting, first person, up close and personal. I see more things then he does.  
><em>Sora grumbled a bit, but then we had to go and fight the next match. By the time we got back from that, Sora had left a note saying he'd made the arrangements, and not to bother him again for a bit because he'd be busy. What with, he didn't say.  
>The final round loomed, and as Pain and Panic refused to let us leave, we were not given any opportunity to see Hades reaffirm his control over Auron. I kept the statuette of him in hand, hoping that as I technically owned it now, I'd have some measure of control over Auron. I didn't like the idea of it, but I hoped it was enough to persuade Auron to continue what may have been just a charade at that point, so Hades would not try to summon it to him, nor would he find out I'd stolen it from him.<br>When the time came for that final round, I kept it well hidden until we were faced with Auron. I had the others remain behind as I opened the fight, taking him on myself. That was not exactly a good move as such, since he's a considerable swordsman, and way out of my league. But it gave me the chance to throw the statuette at him between avoiding attacks and restore his free will.  
>"What?" he shook his head. "What am I doing here?"<br>"Long story," I said quickly. "Looks like you lose, Hades," I called up to him. "Auron's not your puppet any more."  
>"What!" Hades exclaimed. "We had an agreement, prisoner!"<br>"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time," Auron told him bluntly. "This is my story, and you're not a part of it."  
>Hades launched into another ranting tirade, during which he called me a number of names. Between that, he mentioned wanting Hercules to lose and insisted it had been a fair fight, then dropped the back wall, and with it Megara into the Underworld. Hercules shoved Hades aside and dived down after her.<br>"Well, that's one Hero out of the standings," Hades observed, then turned back to me. "Now I've just got you to deal with, and boy have I got just the thing for it!"  
>Hades vanished. At first, nothing appeared to happen. Axel was first to notice anything out of the ordinary though.<br>"Sora, your shadow," he said, taking my shoulder then pointing me toward it. My shadow was lengthening, and wasn't reacting to my movements. It detached from my feet and seemed to flow up off the ground, then it swung both hands. Totally black versions of the Kingdom Key flashed into each hand, then it opened it's own yellow eyes. Anti-Sora was back, with two Keyblades and probably a grudge against me for defeating it back in Neverland.  
>"That's not all we've got to deal with," Demyx said, pointing up above and beyond Anti-Sora. A massive, almost dragon-like creature in varying shades of browns was flying up over the edge of the Underdrome, diving down for us.<br>_We're in trouble now,_ Roxas muttered. _That's the Dustflier – a Heartless I encountered once in Twilight Town in one of my last weeks with the Organization. A tough customer if I ever saw one, damn near destroyed me before Xion showed up to lend a hand.  
><em>"Looks like it's my turn to get you out of trouble, Sora," a familiar voice said as a dark corridor opened not far away.


	61. A True Hero

Our unexpected ally was of course Riku, no doubt thanks to Sora's interventions to counter Maleficent's own meddling. While he still appeared to be Ansem and wielded Soul Eater, there was no mistaking it was definitely him. As I looked at him here in the Underworld, it almost seemed like the appearance of Ansem was faintly transparent, concealing with in it Riku's true appearance within. Difficult to make out, but it could just have been me.  
>I didn't have a chance to look in more detail though, because at that moment Anti-Sora taught me the lesson of never taking your eyes off your opponent, hitting me squarely in the chest with a blast of frigid air that meant he'd silently casted Blizzard. As I pushed myself back up again, I saw him roughly shove the others out of his way and begin to bear down on me.<br>"Leave him to me!" I commanded the the others. "Concentrate on the Dustflier and keep it out of my way."  
><em>Some chance. I've just seen Maleficent. She's stuck around to try and get the Dustflier to focus on you, control or no control. Your Keyblades are already starting to give it that idea, but Anti-Sora's are confusing it.<br>_"Lucky break for us," I grunted, blocking the twin Keyblades of Anti-Sora as he struck out hard and fast. Not a combination I like to use myself because such an aggressive strategy not only leaves me open at key points, but because it also sacrificed accuracy. This didn't bother him though, continuing to lash out viciously at me.  
>I had to think quickly and react even quicker, trying to spot the points he left himself open so I could retaliate instead of constantly giving up ground with every blow, but every attempt I made to exploit a hole turned out to be a trap that in turn left me open for him to catch me instead.<br>Then despite the best efforts of all the others, the Dustflier swooped in low, leaving a storm of fireballs in its wake that homed in on me. The slipstream of air around it was powerful enough to throw both Anti-Sora and me in different directions, leaving me uncomfortably close to the same hole Megara and Hercules had gone down. Seeing the approaching firestorm head for me left me with nowhere to go to escape them, they were heading for me from almost every direction.  
>But they never reached me – Axel with his control over the fire deftly redirected them away from me, and into Anti-Sora, who had already gotten back up and had been sprinting toward me, obviously intending to throw me into the hole behind me. When he saw the fire turn on him, he skidded to a stop, turned and bolted the other way.<br>I sent a Stop spell at him to prevent his own escape, then had to drop back to the ground to avoid getting caught by the Dustflier, diving low again with claws extended in an attempt to grab hold of me. I quickly ensured I'd slip between both claws, then turned the situation on the Dustflier and grabbed hold of its tail as it passed, scrambling up the back.  
>It really didn't like that, thrashing around in the air in an attempt to shake me off. Just as Mulan had against the Heartless in the Land of Dragons, I drove Fenrir into its back and kept a tight hold on it to stay on.<br>Eventually it either decided I must have been thrown, or that it just had to give up, and I was able to retrieve Fenrir and continue scaling its back until I was right behind its head.  
>"We can do this the easy way or the hard way," I told it, keeping hold. "You can get rid of him for me and then try to defeat me, or we can skip ahead to destroying you first." It shuddered underneath me, crying out. "Suit yourself. I'm sure it won't hurt a bit if I start right here with your head."<br>It made another cry, then dropped down with the fireballs trailing after it again. This time they homed in on Anti-Sora, who gave an angry snarl, then vanished. The fireballs continued to track him, unseen or not, but again he came up with a response to this, allowing the fireballs to gather in one single stream, then reappearing to smash them back at all of us in turn with one of his dark Keyblades.  
>Most of them were focused on the Dustflier, though it had little effect but to throw me off. I wasted no time in searching for Anti-Sora, but he'd disappeared. Then there was a clash of blades behind me, and I turned to see Riku pushing back against Anti-Sora's Keyblades. Sparks of darkness showered the area between them as Anti-Sora appeared to be using the darkness himself to fight back. Riku held Ansem though, and that gave him overpowering darkness in comparison.<br>With that distracting him, I turned my attention to the Dustflier, which was now busily attacking Axel, with Goofy only just managing to hold off the barrage of attacks. The Dustflier had landed on the ground, or perhaps Demyx's own attacks on its wings had forced it down, so I headed right in and started battering away.  
>Several times during that, it did not exactly take off, but it did jump into the air, landing with such force that all of us were flung back. After each repeat of this I had to cast Cure, while Goofy rapidly handed around healing potions due to the damage it had dealt out to us. But in the end it finally fell, fading back into the darkness with a last anguished screech.<br>Riku was still fighting with Anti-Sora, countering the darkness he was using and holding the two Keyblades at bay, but only just. With the Dustflier down it was safe for us to come to his aid and finish off Anti-Sora, making use of the others as further distractions so I would be left unnoticed to deliver the final blows to it.  
>Anti-Sora did not fade away, or just disappear. Instead with a mocking laugh he sank back down into the floor, becoming a shadow again. When it reattached itself to me, I felt a cold chill for a moment, and there was the nagging feeling something had changed, but I couldn't place what.<br>No one else appeared to notice anything out of the ordinary this time, but we were then distracted by Hades reappearing.  
>"Don't bother," I said, holding Riku back. "We can't touch him here in his Underworld."<br>"Then how do you plan to beat him?" Riku demanded.  
>"I think a true hero should be able to handle that," Hercules said from behind us, having stepped back out of the hole with Megara in his arms and his hero's glow back around him. "I owe you one, Hades. If it hadn't been for you, I'd never have remembered – a true Hero is measured by the strength of his heart."<br>"How dare you!" Hades erupted again. "How dare you get a happy ending?"  
>Enraged, the god descended on us, but Hercules simply stepped in front of us and shoved him back away from his. We all went after Hades now, pushing him around until it was him between us and the hole, then with Hercules's help, we pushed Hades down into the pit instead.<br>"Honestly Sora, can't you do anything by yourself," Riku teased me. "I mean you've got two Nobodies and the King's lackeys and you still needed me to help."  
>"Nothing wrong with help," I replied. "In moderation. It's not like I call for help all the time you know. Anyway, what are your plans?"<br>"I'm... looking for Kairi. I know you know where she is, but I have to do this myself."  
>"No you don't. She's in the World that Never Was. Roxas reckons there are some others with her though, and we don't know who. Think I could persuade you to see who they are?"<br>"Getting me to do your work for you, huh?" Riku chuckled. "I'll let you know what I find out," he added, then he too departed.  
>Auron grudgingly thanked us for meddling, then we all returned to the remains of the Coliseum above ground, where we teased Phil a bit before the skies above proclaimed us all true Heroes – even the two Nobodies and Donald, though he wasn't present. This also prompted Hercules to give me the chain for the Guardian Soul Keyblade, and a reminder not to do anything too stupid while out on my own adventures.<p>

Our next port of call according to Roxas, was not going to be one I liked. Then he told me, and I agreed – I really wasn't looking forward to the return to Agrabah. The first visit had been bad enough, losing us Donald, now I had to try and get him back as well as face off against Jafar, and Roxas told me also face off against the last of the Absent Silhouettes.  
>Along the way, we had an unexpected visit from Yen Sid in person, who brought us up to date on what had happened since our last visit. It seemed that even though Jafar was imprisoned without his staff, he still retained some power. When Donald came back to Agrabah with us still bearing his staff, he was able to make use of the residual power of his inside it to influence Donald through Donald's own magic. As he'd used more of it, he'd fallen further and further under Jafar's power, and now we were not just against Jafar but Donald too.<br>To further complicate the matter, he told us that the Organization had been spotted in the world, and were probably responsible for Jafar being released from the lamp we'd imprisoned him in originally, and since Donald and the staff were now in his hands, he was even more of a threat than he ever had been before.  
>Roxas had understate things. This was going to be one world I really did not want to go back to, even if it would get us Donald back... assuming he could be retrieved from under Jafar's influence safely.<p> 


	62. Desert Darkness

As it had been last time, Agrabah appeared at first to be no different than it should have been. Demyx and Goofy were as wary as they had been last time, and Axel had heard the story of what happened here too, making him no less cautious.  
>We appeared in the same part of Agrabah we had done before, but this time there was no Iago and no Heartless either. There were also no residents, and no sounds coming from the market area – and markets are usually nearly universally noisy. Suspicious much?<br>"Check the peddler's shop," I told Demyx tersely. "Ask what's been going on, and if _they're_ here."  
>"Should they be?" Axel asked me.<br>"One of them should. I don't know which one, and we probably won't find out or meet them, but-"  
>"He says the only one he's seen was me last time," Demyx said, re-emerging. "His shop's totally different though. Gold everywhere."<br>"He's lying then. The gold was to keep him from spilling the beans about Jafar's release."  
>"There's another Absent Silhouette there too, Sora."<br>"Vexen's. I'll challenge him later, Agrabah and Donald are the primary concerns here. Everything else can wait. We go to the palace, and keep an eye out for Aladdin."  
>Given that as we passed through the marketplace, it was strangely abandoned, I did not have high hopes for seeing him though. There was definitely something strange going on.<br>There was no Iago either, which was troubling. In Sora's story here, Iago is frequently the one who points out the next destination – even when it happens to be the wrong one.  
>But when we got to the palace gates, we found someone busily fending off a swarm of peculiarly blue Dusks. While Jasmine hardly looked dangerous, with a short but nasty curved blade in her hand she was deceptively deadly as she whirled around destroying them with barely any effort at all.<br>As the Dusks cleared from around her, she finished off the last of them, then saw us and joined us.  
>"You're late," she accused.<br>"Well excuse me," I replied. "I can't be everywhere at once, you know. What's happened here?"  
>"Some idiot let Jafar out of the lamp he was imprisoned in. He had your friend Donald with him, but he didn't seem to be able to control what he was doing – it was like Jafar had wiped his mind."<br>"What did they do?" I persisted.  
>"Made Aladdin vanish, along with anyone who got in their way. He ordered Donald to bring me to him at any cost, but I've managed to escape so far. Jafar's holed up inside the palace though, and there's no way to get to him without dealing with Donald."<br>"What about the Genie?"  
>"You called?" he asked cheerfully appearing nearby. "Ever since Al disappeared I've been helping her royal highness out but I'll make an exception for you old friends!"<br>"Glad to see Jafar doesn't have you in his power too. We need to get Donald back to our side first – it'll get us him back as an ally, and it'll open the way to Jafar. Any ideas?"  
>"Lure him away," Axel suggested. "He's already after Jasmine, if we can lure him somewhere clear of the city, we can make it a trap and not put the city in any further danger."<br>"There's those ruins just outside," Demyx added. "Roxas and I got sent on a mission to them once. There's nothing there at all."  
>"Genie," I asked then. "Can you get us there? I doubt even with Jafar's magic he can just transport himself instantly by magic, so if you can it'll give us time to prepare."<br>"One free ride, coming right up!" Genie replied grandly, waving his arms extravagantly. With a brief blue blur around us, the palace and surrounds faded to reveal the Sandswept Ruins, where Roxas fights the Antlion Heartless. Coming with it was a roaring sandstorm, which the Genie also dispelled for us with the remark," That's twice I've had to do that now."  
>"What's the plan now, Sora?" Axel asked.<br>"Give me time," I replied. "We've got some, I just have to figure it out.

After much discussion between us, Roxas helped us identify a charm bracelet that Jasmine had as the means by which Donald was tracking her. With some illusions helpfully provided by the Genie and Jasmine's permission, I took that bracelet and would appear to Donald to be Jasmine – just an illusion mind, nothing more.  
>Then he masked the presence of each of the others with another illusion, so they could still be present but not visible when Donald turned up, and finally he uncovered the remains of a small sandstone house where I would be lying in wait for him.<br>Waiting has never been something I do very well, and being the bait for a trap – even one I knew the details of – only made it worse  
><em>Stop worrying,<em> Roxas told me irritably. _You know it can't do anything but succeed.  
><em>"I'd love to know how you arrived at that conclusion," I retorted. I get snappy easily when I'm nervous.  
><em>Simple – we saw you appearing in the Land of Departure, and I reckon that whatever caused that happens when you reach the World that Never Was. Which means since you're not going to leave here without Donald, that means this can only go one way.<br>_"What you've seen isn't set in stone, Roxas," I protested. "I thought I knew what was going to happen too, remember? Except changes I'd made caused it to go differently at times."  
><em>Difference is, yours is just playing the games of Sora's life – I see what's going to happen even with your changes in ours.<br>_"Even then, you didn't see Donald at all – it was just me. That's no guarantee at all."  
>"Duck incoming," the Genie's voice announced, cutting off Roxas's response. "You're on in five. Need a hand? Make up for the illusion? Gotta look your best, ya know."<br>I had to laugh despite the situation, but persuaded him I didn't need anything for now, and continued to wait. Confronting Donald was not going to be something I was going to like, even if Jafar had brainwashed him – and that in itself I had to hope could be reversed.  
>Roxas continued to remind me to stop worrying, trying to encourage me. Alright, other people might call me insane if I told them I had my own Nobody resident in my own mind with me, but sometimes it's definitely helpful. Besides, you get the knowledge that you're never alone. Maybe sometimes it's a bit of a test of my patience having him always around, but overall I prefer it.<br>It wasn't long after that Donald's voice cut through the light hiss of the sands still shifting in the light winds.  
>"Come out, princess!" he called. "I know you're hiding there."<br>_Easy, Liam,_ Roxas warned me. _Relax.  
><em>"Easy for you to say," I muttered, then left the building. Donald wasn't far away, stood leaning on Jafar's staff, which had a red glowing outline – as did Donald himself.  
>"There you are. Come Jasmine – your husband awaits you."<br>I couldn't reply – Genie's illusion made me appear to be Jasmine, but he'd been unable to make me sound like her. So instead I folded my arms and put on a defiant face. Behind Donald, I saw footprints slowly appearing in the sand, mute indication of the others preparing to try to separate the staff from him. The staff held Jafar's power, and was undoubtedly the link that allowed Jafar to control Donald; without it he'd have no control and we should get him back.  
>"You don't want to be late for the happy occasion, do you?" Donald asked me, approaching. When he stopped nearby, I slapped away his reach for me and crouched down to his level.<br>"I think you're mistaking me for someone else," I grinned at him. Genie knew that as his cue to dispel the illusion on me, and as he did so I removed Jasmine's charm bracelet and held it up for him to see. "Fooled you," I smirked.  
>Donald tried to swipe at me with the staff, but it's not hard to avoid getting hit by him.<br>"What have you done with the princess?" he demanded.  
>"Kept her safe from Jafar. More than I can say for you, Donald. Don't you remember who I am?"<br>"Of course I remember you," he snapped. "You're the idiot that imprisoned Jafar!"  
>One of the sets of footsteps was right behind Donald now. There was a loud crack, a startled yelp, and Demyx appeared as he was flung back from the staff. Now Donald smirked.<br>"Don't _you_ remember? That doesn't work at all."  
>"Of course I remember – but this time I've got something I do about it," I grinned. "Take it away, Genie – and don't let anything do the same to me."<br>"You really just can't get the staff these days, can you?" he quipped, dropping down nearby and surprising Donald. Thanks to that surprise, Genie spelled the staff into my own hand, in turn adding a bit of preventative magic so the same throwing away trick wouldn't work on me.  
>The staff felt like it was writhing under my touch, and it also felt like it was burning me, but freezing cold. There was a powerful malicious feeling emanating from it that seemed to resonate with a similar cold feeling inside, a cold feeling I'd had ever since Anti-Sora had returned to being my shadow.<br>I recognised the feeling of it – Riku had attempted to use it on me, as had Ansem when possessing him. Anti-Sora had used darkness, and when he'd reverted back to a shadow and reattached to me, that darkness had flowed into me. It whispered to me in a whisper that was somehow also loud enough to drown out Roxas, but not the sounds of what was happening around me. I fought that whisper, just as I had the single though I'd had when I'd been a Heartless, and I fought the other whispers of Jafar, trying to make me continue the task he'd set on Donald.  
>I couldn't move, but I could see what was happening. Removing the staff from Donald's possession had prevented Jafar from reinforcing his influence or giving him any new directives, but it had not yet broken his hold on Donald. He'd pulled out one of the many rods he'd collected for those times when I needed the staff and was busy wreaking magical havoc on the others.<br>Axel took control of any fire-based magic, using it to melt the ice of any ice magic for Demyx to make use of. He in turn put it to use as mobile, flowing lightning rods that attempted to intercept any thunder magic and redirect it into Donald. I didn't like seeing him getting attacked like this, but there was nothing I could do – I was locked in my own mental struggle with Jafar and the darkness in me, unable to act.  
>Jasmine had kept out of the fight at first, as I'd requested her to. But when she saw I was either unwilling or unable to do anything, she flew into the fray, once more putting her short blade to good use. She understood that we didn't really want any harm to come to him, only to get him back to normal, and thus kept her efforts to disarming him, scattering the rods and wands around and away from him.<br>Goofy was the one with the most trouble, as his shield conducted the magic. But he persevered, continuing to try and reach our friend despite the magical mayhem. At last he finally reached Donald and was able to deliver as stunning blow with the shield. Donald blinked, swayed, then fell to the ground, unconscious.  
>The others, despite having been distracted by that fight, had noticed there was something wrong with me. Jasmine moved to approach, but Axel held her back.<br>"Don't," he told her. "It's not safe, even for you."  
>"But why not?"<br>"Don't you recognise it? You must have smelled it enough back in Hollow Bastion when Maleficent was trying to use you."  
>Jasmine sniffed, then gave a startled exclamation. "Darkness!"<br>"Darkness indeed," the voice of Yen Sid said, as he appeared beside them – the second of his highly unexpected personal appearances. "This does not bode well," he continued, examining me. "But there may still be something that can be done."  
>"But what, Master Yen Sid?" Goofy asked him respectfully.<br>"I cannot separate him from the staff – that may have been a mistake." The Genie hung his head. "But not on your part," Yen Sid added, brightening him. "The mistake was Sora's to make. Had he anticipated the consequences..." he trailed off. "But what has happened is not irretrievable. Roxas, I presume that you can hear me?"  
>Roxas said something through me, but even using my voice I still couldn't hear him. The darkness was doing something that stopped me.<br>"Yes," Yen Sid agreed. "That is what I have in mind. You are aware of the consequences though, to both of you?"  
>Roxas said something else.<br>"You can't be serious," Axel burst out. "You're not meant to have anything to do with that!"  
>"It is his choice to make, Axel," Yen Sid told him. "If he is willing to accept what comes from it, then who are we to stand in his way? But you must also be aware of the consequences to Sora," he told Roxas.<br>After another, much longer muted response, Yen Sid merely nodded again and raised his hands, glowing with magic. The whispering grew to a roar, drowning out all sound, then it was gone and all that was left was the whispering of Jafar.  
>A second wave of magic passed over me from Yen Sid, and my sight was gone, as was the sense of Roxas's presence. I could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. Nothing except myself, and Jafar's staff, his whispering continuing.<br>What had Yen Sid done?


	63. Roxas Sees

Well, it looks like it's up to me to give you this one. Like Castle Oblivion, Liam doesn't remember this bit, only this time the only recollection of what happened was the one Sora got to read, and Sora decided that Liam _really_ wouldn't like to see it. Of course, Liam's an ornery kind of person, and demanded to see it anyway.  
>He didn't like it. Actually, that's an understatement, but when you consider this is me, his own Nobody, having to tell you this bit because of it, you start to get the idea.<br>The conversation I'd had with Yen Sid comes down to one simple statement – it was too risky to leave the darkness Anti-Sora had given him in his possession for as long as Jafar's influence was still on the staff.  
>As a Nobody, I'm actually just as Xemnas says – somewhere in-between light and darkness. But I commanded the darkness obviously, as otherwise how would I have been able to create my own dark corridors? The Keyblade countered that, pushing me back toward the light.<br>Anyway, I'm getting as sidetracked as Lee does. The point is, I could take the darkness that he'd been given, but unless he and I were also separated again, he'd still have access to it. In what Liam described as the 'much longer muted response' I made an additional request of him, one that would benefit is a great deal.  
>I told Yen Sid to let me keep Liam's heart once he separated us. Like Sora, his heart is the source of a lot of his power – if I had it, I could keep it safe. All I had to do was avoid actually using the darkness I'd be given, since that would harm it.<br>So that's what Yen Sid did. He separated us out again, into separate beings. Neither of us complete without the other, but eliminating the key threat – Liam's own darkness under Jafar's control.  
>All the others saw was who they thought was Sora disappear, and me appear in his place, surprising them all.<br>"It is done," Yen Sid said gravely as I gave myself a glance over. Same old look I'd seen for most of my life. He'd given me the coat, or perhaps I'd unconsciously done it – you never know when magic gets involved, strange things can happen.  
>"Where did you put him?" I asked.<br>"I had intended for him to remain nearby... but it would seem Jafar has reacted quickly and retrieved him for his own ends. Seek him in Agrabah, Roxas."  
>"Can ya stick around?" Having Yen Sid accompany us would provide a major boon.<br>"I have already done more than I would have liked," he shook his head. "Donald will awaken soon, and should be more than capable of providing magical assistance. The rest is in your hands."  
>Then he disappeared. Does he ever bother to say goodbye or anything?<br>"Stop staring, of course it's me," I told Axel. "Honestly, weren't you listening?"  
>"I just- I mean..."<br>"You never thought we'd get to keep company again, huh?" I chuckled. "Come on. We can't waste any time. I don't want to leave Sora in Jafar's power and longer than we have to. Someone pick up Donald, and lets get back to town."  
>Liam will tell you he picks his Keyblades for what they can do, which is why he took up Fenrir for the physical power boost, and Fatal Crest for the magic one, but me? I prefer to go with one on an impulse, never mind what it can do.<br>But since he and I were separate once more, we were both limited to just the one Keyblade. At least that would prevent him from being too much of a pain if I had to fight him. I planned on fighting him at Memory Skyscraper anyway, but that'd be with him in full command of his abilities, rather than how he was here.  
>Since I'm not Liam, the Keyblade I carried had reverted back to the Kingdom Key. I'd kept all of his keychains though, so I replaced that one with Oblivion. Say what you will about it, it's got some nice boosts behind it.<br>Genie offered to just pop us over to Agrabah, but I pointed out that Jafar had interfered with Yen Sid's magic to take Liam from us as we were separated, and that he might be able to do the same again. Some help we'd be if he sent us to Destiny Islands or something.  
>That's not the real reason I wanted to walk though. I was real again. Maybe it wouldn't last – I knew I'd have to give it up once we got Liam back – but I wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Besides, I inherited one trait from Lee – he prefers to walk places if he can instead of using public transport. Don't ask me why.<br>Agrabah was already considerably darker when we came into sight of the city walls, and not because it was getting late in the day either. The actual colour of the city had changed, the buildings altered to give them a darker aura to them. The top of the walls had completely pointless spikes lining them, the buildings were all redesigned to look intimidating, one even resembled a skull somewhat. Jafar evidently didn't have much imagination.  
>As it had been when Liam passed through, it was completely deserted. I always seem to come here when there's next to no one around. At least this time I wasn't in the company of Xigbar.<br>Heartless appeared along the way, along with some more of the strangely blue Nobodies. I got a few of my Samurais to protect Donald and help out, then got stuck in. I missed being able to beat up a few stupid Heartless like this. Still do, but what can you do when your other half needs you?  
>Donald woke up during one of those little skirmishes, and had to have the situation explained to him. He apparently did remember what Jafar had put him through, and that made him fiercely determined to get Liam back.<br>"Leave him to me," I told him though. "Jafar will likely try to get in the way, so you guys focus on him. If you can find his lamp, even better. But Sora... leave him to me." I had no problems remembering to call him Sora to people who knew him by that name, but I never really felt right doing it. They should know he's not who he says he is, but his choice I guess. I think he would have had an easier time of things if he'd been open about it from the start.  
>"What if we handle Jafar before you bring Sora to his senses?" Axel asked me.<br>"Then you'll have broken most of his hold on Sora, if not all of it, making things easier," I shrugged. "And if I snap him out of it before you deal with Jafar, we get an extra ally – at least until he and I join again."  
>We paused not far from what had been the Palace courtyard, though now it was more of an overgrown garden – a garden of plants that looked menacing enough, and I wouldn't have put it past them to have been conveniently carnivorous.<br>The pause wasn't without reason. As Lee's told you, I really do get to see the future, at least here in these worlds. I don't get to decide what or when, or even when they happen, but over time I'd learned how to tell when one was coming.  
>I judged I had just enough time to have Donald start teaching Goofy a bit of basic magic, remembering Liam had wanted to do that for a while now, then the first vision of the two hit me.<br>The first of them is always the more simple of the two. In this case, it was Liam fighting some Nobodies in the World that Never Was, in Anti-Form and using the same darkness I'd taken from him. The form cancelled out as I watched, and he appeared to be unharmed by it. Perhaps a sign that if I made a part of his darkness available to him in that form, he'd be able to use it safely? It was uncertain, but if he could control that without ill effects, undoubtedly powerful.  
>Before I had the chance to properly guess if it would be safe or not, my view shifted to the second one. I recognised the area, though I'd never been there – the Keyblade Graveyard. This one had a strong feeling of having already happened.<br>This appeared to be the time where Eraqus's three apprentices are attempting to battle Master Xehanort and Vanitas, some way into the battle. I couldn't see Terra or Xehanort, but I could see Ventus and Vanitas fighting, and not far away Aqua battling with Braig.  
>That wasn't all though. Xigbar was present, with a small entourage of Dusks and Sniper Nobodies, and they were also menacing Aqua. Between her fight and Ven's own, one figure stood indecisively with two Keyblades, looking from one to the other.<br>"I could use some help over here Sora!" Ventus yelled to him, evidently having trouble fending off Vanitas. I'm sure he shouldn't have had that trouble, but this seemed to be a side-effect of Sora's presence in his story, or so I guessed.  
>"Damn my ethics," I heard Liam mutter. "You're next, Xigbar," he added, then turned and charged Vanitas. Vanitas might have been a match for Ventus, but faced with a clearly annoyed Liam and his own two Keyblades, that battle was over in short order.<br>He didn't stick around after defeating Vanitas though, nodding to Aqua's own fight so Ven understood, then sprinted to try and help Aqua deal with her own assault. Behind him, I watched as Vanitas and Ventus fused, prompting the mental struggle within them that would finish Vanitas, even at the cost of Ven's own heart. That right there people, is what _real_ courage is.  
>Then the vision cut out, and I was back in Agrabah. Axel recognised the signs of me seeing something; he'd been around me long enough to pick that up.<br>"I'm guessing by your expression that it wasn't good news," he murmured, ducking under a badly aimed fireball Goofy had managed to get out.  
>"I'm not sure actually. Something that keeps cropping up that I can't quite figure out, and I suspect it has something to do with Xigbar."<br>"You? Admitting you're not sure?"  
>"Happens to all of us," I replied absently. "If only I could figure out how it happens – and when – I could warn Le- uh, Sora." I slipped up only because I was distracted.<br>"Maybe it's something that shouldn't be changed," he suggested.  
>"It didn't say change, I said warn. If he knew what's going to come, he can better prepare for it. Knowing what you're up against in advance makes a lot of difference."<br>"What about here? Anything useful for us?"  
>I just shook my head. There isn't anything you can do when you've got to take on Jafar, let alone with Liam under his control. Or partially under his control, as we learned that he continued to fight that influence, and that weakened the control.<p> 


	64. Temper, Temper

The gardens outside the Palace, despite their appearance, were harmless. Jafar might have been able to change their appearance, but not their nature. Some of them were still fairly creepy though, and as I was borrowing Liam's heart, I caught an idea of what it's like to be pointlessly afraid of something like that. I can ignore it easier than you can though.  
>Inside the palace may once have been impressive, it may even have been a work of art. But like outside, Jafar had changed it. It was little more than a single immense throne room now, the ceiling supported by many massive sandstone pillars. Some few doors were in the side walls, a deep but dark red with golden designs on them, but there was no doubting where we had to go.<br>Jafar himself sat on one of the two thrones ahead, and Liam stood off to one side, the staff in one hand, and a Kingdom Key in the other. He had a blank expression which seemed to twitch into others periodically, the only sign Jafar still did not fully control him.  
>On a pedestal in front of the thrones, protected by a shimmering green barrier, was Jafar's lamp. The stupid fool was actually confident enough in his own power and position that he was practically giving us the means to defeat him. Still, villains will be villains, and I wasn't going to complain.<br>"Ah, Jasmine," Jafar almost purred as he watched us cross that vaulted hall. "So at last you come to take your rightful place. I can only assume you have these barbarians with you to ensure your safety in coming here..."  
>"They're here because they can stop you," she told him defiantly. A lot of fight in that girl, not one you want to cross lightly.<br>"And there's the small matter of getting him back," I added, pointing at Liam with Oblivion.  
>"Back? What makes you think he wants to go with you?" Jafar asked, then turned to him and added, "Do you want to go with them?"<br>"No," the response was clear and firm, but also uncertain. He was fighting it alright.  
>"I suppose asking you to surrender would be out of the question?" I inquired, continuing across. Almost right before the pedestal now, not far from the two. I saw Jafar's disdainful expression and continued, "No, I didn't think you would. Guess we have to do this the hard way then."<br>Jafar waved one hand, and a barrier sealed him off from the rest of us. Liam began to advance on us now, but in the time before he reached us, I gave the barrier protecting the lamp a few experimental strikes. It looked like I'd had an effect, but not much of one. If I had Liam too...  
>Then there was more than just him to worry about. More Heartless and Nobodies appeared. As I'd told them on the way here, the others all left Liam to me. I summoned my Samurais once more to supplement them, giving me just enough time to block a strike Liam had made for me.<br>"Told you I might pick a fight with you early," I told him. He didn't respond, instead swinging the staff, though not for me. We were both thrown into the air, only to land on the ceiling. He'd cast a Gravity spell that powerful that as far as we were concerned, up was down.  
>He landed with considerably more grace than I did, having not expected this, but I didn't leave myself a target for long. He jabbed his Keyblade at where I'd been, and I rolled partly aside, enough that I could hold it down with my own and kick at his arms to try and release his grip on it. That sent him stumbling back, but he held firm on the Keyblade, actually pulling back with enough strength to haul me to my feet with him.<br>I know Liam well, having spent a lot of time pretty much stuck in his own head. It makes up for not being able to see the future on demand at times like this, because I can predict what he'll do based on what I know.  
>As I expected, he unhooked his Keyblade from mine and drew back a ways, and the two of us began to circle like two wolves locked in a fight together.<br>"Don't do this, Roxas," he told me. "If you don't stop, you could destroy me. Then what would you do?"  
>"Sora has the book," I shrugged. "He'll be able to do something when he finds out, if he isn't watching already."<br>Liam then tried to catch me off guard, throwing magic at me that was still enhanced by the staff's innate magic, and further empowered by its proximity to Jafar. He threw a searing fireball at me, which I hooked on the end of Oblivion, spinning in place to hurl it back at him just as he attempted to cast Blizzaga – which failed because of the heat, creating an instant cloud of steam. I sent Thunder at him, which he returned with Reflect, and I returned the favour – but unlike him, I silent-casted it. I said nothing, gave no indication of casting it, but it was there. Uses more magic than normal, but incredibly useful at times.  
>He didn't expect that and was caught by it full on, as he'd expected me to be stunned by it so he could attack me, and I was able to strike at him again. I managed to disarm him of the Keyblade at least, though I left it on the ceiling knowing that if I tried to take it up like this, it'd go back to him. I couldn't be certain where Ven's heart was, and didn't want to chance that I didn't have it.<br>Liam's Gravity cancelled out unexpectedly then, preventing me from doing any more. We dropped down toward the floor, along with his Keyblade. I had a bad feeling, and quickly guessed where it would land, then yelled down, "Axel, move!"  
>Axel glanced up, blanched, and quickly got clear. The Keyblade landed moments later, sticking in the ground where he had been.<br>Then Liam and I landed. This time I managed to land much better, though the jolting impact was still hard to bear, but I was prepared and managed to intercept a jab from the staff that would have hurt a great deal otherwise. I didn't dare touch it directly, but in intercepting the jab he'd made, he left himself open to being disarmed, and I brought Oblivion down hard, using the flat of it instead of the blade, on the back of Liam's hand.  
>The staff dropped from his hand and onto the floor with a wooden clatter that sounded almost surreally loud. Everyone there, even the Heartless and Nobodies turned when they heard it. Jafar looked shocked for only a moment before regaining his composure.<br>For the space of a few heartbeats, the scene was almost frozen as the staff was watched until it rolled to a stop. When it stopped by knocking into a pillar, the barrier protecting Jafar faded, though not the one for the lamp.  
>Liam gave an infuriated snarl and snatched up his Keyblade. I prepared to defend myself again, but then he whirled and with an incoherent but enraged yell, he descended on Jafar like the proverbial ton of bricks. In his case, some very strong, and much heavier bricks than normal. Liam when he's almost incandescent with rage is a rare sight, and not one you want to be on the receiving end of. Even I wouldn't have liked to get in his way, and I'll stand up to a lot.<br>"Well don't just stand there!" I half-snapped at the others nearby. "There's still enemies to fight here!"  
>Despite that statement, I did not concentrate on them at first. I battered away at the barrier protecting the lamp, noticing that with each strike a spiders-web of cracks spread a bit further though it, until it faded entirely and allowed me to take up the lamp.<br>"Sora!" I called, then threw it at him. Jafar's expression grew suddenly very concerned.  
>Liam turned, keeping a close eye on Jafar, then smirked, jumped and snatched the lamp out of the air, rolling on the ground to prevent injury. Now Jafar was well and truly terrified – Liam held his lamp; that meant he had to obey whatever Liam asked of him.<br>"Get rid of the Heartless and Nobodies," he told Jafar in a low tone. I quickly had my own Samurais disappear so I wouldn't inadvertently lose any as Jafar reluctantly complied. "Now put Agrabah back the way it was, complete with all the citizens." When this one cleared, we were back in the courtyard outside.  
>"Sora-" Jafar began pleadingly, but Liam cut him off by dismissing his Keyblade and punching him.<br>"Oh, that felt good," he muttered with a nasty grin, then hit him several more times, using the blows as emphasis to his words, "I have had enough of you! Back to your lamp now, and if you're ever freed again you're to put yourself straight back in, you hear!"  
>Genie looked horrified at that, but then he knew what it was like to be stuck in a lamp. I guess despite everything, he sympathised somewhat for what Liam was inflicting on Jafar.<br>"Feeling better for that?" I asked him mildly once Jafar had been sucked back into his lamp.  
>"I'm fine now. Who's idea was it to do this?" he asked, gesturing to me.<br>"Mine. Well, Yen Sid had the idea too, but I said it first. Honestly, can't you do anything without me?"  
>Liam almost replied, then looked around at the others, frowning. I started to get another bad feeling.<br>"Where's Jasmine?" he asked at last.  
>"She with us-" I started, then broke off as I looked too. "Genie, can you tell us what happened?"<br>"I can tell you what I saw," he offered. We waited.  
>"Well tell us then!" Liam flared his temper still not fully subsided. "This isn't the time to be playing around!"<br>"Some guy in a black coat like his-" he pointed at me, "Appeared in the middle of your fight out of this black portal and snatched her up. Had blue hair and a scar in the shape of a cross on his nose.  
>"Saïx," Liam and I said together.<br>"What is he up to?" Liam muttered. "Unless-" his eyes widened. "Oh, gods. Roxas, I need to talk to you a moment." He pulled me aside without waiting. "I think I know who those others with Kairi are now," he told me. "And why Aladdin is also missing."  
>I couldn't miss the implications there. "You think Saïx is abducting both princesses and our friends in each world?"<br>"That's what it seems like. I'm not certain on Aladdin; that could just have been a mistake or something, but if this is Saïx..."  
>"Point taken. I think you and I should rejoin now, and get on the way – there's other worlds you've got to stop by, and you'll need your full power back. I had Donald start to teach Goofy some magic, by the way."<br>"Thanks. Guess we'd better get on with things then."


	65. Snowy Presents

While I hadn't realised it until after Roxas and I had rejoined, I keenly felt the differences not having a heart can make. I also realised quite quickly that it's still possible for Nobodies to have their own feelings, not just the appearance of them. Because of that, it did feel good to be complete once more, though I understood Roxas had been more reluctant than he'd wanted to say. Can you blame him though?  
>But I digress again, and we have a story to tell now Roxas has helpfully covered the parts I don't even like to admit happened to me. I'm not telling my side of that part, so don't ask me.<br>Donald was understandably concerned by Axel's presence with us, so I had him bring him up to date on all he'd missed while being stuck in Agrabah. Donald complained to me about getting left out, insisting we should have stuck around to get him back earlier until Roxas silenced him by telling him there wasn't anything we could have done until now.  
>Before we put this world behind us, there was one last thing that had to be done. The peddler was not in his still gold-laden store, but Vexen's Absent Silhouette was, patiently waiting for me to challenge it. Which I did so.<br>An enlarged version of the garden outside Twilight Town's old mansion formed around me, as usual with Roxas nearby. He held the Book of Retribution once more, but wore a grave expression.  
>"Be careful, Liam. I've made a couple of changes to one of your forms that could be dangerous." I said nothing, so he went on, "You can choose when you want Anti-Form like the rest of them, though it'll still trigger if you get hit."<br>"The other change?"  
>He took in a deep breath, then told me, "You can call on the darkness Anti-Sora gave you when in that form. I don't know what the consequences will be if you do though."<br>"But unless one experiments to find out, how can we be sure?" Vexen's smug voice pointed out.  
>"Who asked you for your opinion?" Roxas asked him ungraciously.<br>"Are you still holding on to your pointless grudge?" Vexen demanded of him.  
>"You're the whole reason Xion had so much trouble through his existance – the whole reason Saïx and Xigbar were constantly fighting with each other to get some kind of hold over him. And you're the reason Xemnas knew what he needed to reprogram him so he and I would fight. You, Vexen, are responsible for the whole lot ultimately, and I knew it before you'd even created him."<br>"Feel better for that rant?" I asked him mildly.  
>"I'll feel better when you get rid of him," he muttered darkly.<br>"The feeling is mutual," Vexen replied chillingly. "I intend to eliminate both of you, of course. And this time Sora, you cannot use Castle Oblivion against me."  
>"Funny, Marluxia said the same thing. Remember what happened to him, Roxas?"<br>"Marluxia? Of course, he was the one that forget this book gives me access to illusions. The one we worked together to finish off with a Keyblade each. Wasn't much of a challenge, was he?"  
>"Marluxia was merely number eleven, and hardly a significant threat," Vexen asserted. "You will find me to be a considerably tougher opponent."<br>"Then why don't you prove it?" I asked, bringing both Keyblades out.  
>Vexen began by throwing a blizzard at us, but this was countered by an illusion from Roxas of heat that melted it before it reached either of us. The Nobody then tried to throw massive snowflakes at each of us, but these too were useless.<br>I closed on him, keeping a close eye on his movements. Several times he attempted to call a pillar of ice out of the ground, and for a few moments such pillars were able to stand up to the heat before melting. Only Vexen's shield was immune to the illusion, and he barred my path to him with it as much as he could. I had little choice but to batter away at it, casting fire spells of my own in an attempt to be rid of it.  
>Vexen was hardly a one-trick donkey without his ice attacks however, and he summoned a number of dark copies of me, like Anti-Sora, but without a Keyblade – much like myself in Anti-Form, actually.<br>With a small army of them appearing, that realization in itself gave me an idea, despite Roxas's warnings. I threw the Keyblades to Roxas, who discarded Zexion's book to take them, then with the newly granted ability he'd given me I went immediately into Anti-Form.  
>I could feel the coldness of the darkness Roxas had told me about. Roxas's warnings hadn't been ungrounded – they whispered again, trying to entice me into using them. But as had always happened when I came to this form, I thought at a much more basic level that matched the feral attacks I used, and that drop in the level of thought meant I could ignore the whispers without paying them any attention at all.<br>The coldness was another matter. Every Anti-Sora I destroyed only seemed to make it grow colder and harder, every one made it feel like it had grown. But I could still ignore it, and I kept on fighting until not a single one of them remained. I still had time in this form before it cancelled out, and I put that to good use supplementing Roxas's own attacks with my Keyblades. Needless to say, the hapless Nobody did not last long.  
>Interestingly, when Roxas took Vexen's shield, it also carried over to the real world outside. He told me this was actually only a copy, but he'd decided Goofy might want to add it to his own collection of shields.<p>

With Agrabah finally behind us and the keychain for Wishing Lamp handed to me by the Genie in lieu of either Jasmine or Aladdin, we headed onward again and back to Halloween Town. Axel was the only one of us who had yet to be here since joining us, and so we were all interested to see what it had in store for him, if anything. Demyx was more interested in Christmas Town, since that had been the first place he'd displayed any change to his appearance at all.  
>On arriving in the Hinterlands of Halloween Town, we noticed many things. Donald of course noticed the Christmas decorations that had not been there before, while the rest of us noticed first the presents scattered around, and then Axel.<br>"You're sure this is just to make me fit in here, right Sora?" he asked, looking himself over.  
>"Don't worry," I chuckled. "You won't have any overpowering urges to go eating people's brains." For of course, he'd appeared more like a zombie, with slightly more ragged clothing, and in places it seemed as if parts of his flesh were falling off, just like an actual zombie. It was kind of funny to see though. "Gather the presents," I instructed them then. "They're not for us, but Jack is collecting them to give them back to Santa."<br>"So you had the same idea I did!" Jack exclaimed, joining us with an armful of presents and still in his Santa suit. "Welcome back, by the way." He spotted Axel and continued, "New friend? Delightfully frightful too!"  
>"You're getting sidetracked, Jack," I said gently. "Just humour me a moment..."<br>"Of course, Sora. You know I'm finished with Christmas fantasies. But it's such a nice suit you know, and Sally put so much work into it."  
>"Right. Now that's out the way... everyone got the presents? Then let's take them back to Santa."<br>I like Jack. While he get distracted as easily as I do sometimes, he's got a great attitude that's almost infectious, and he's exceptionally perceptive – as seen there, I didn't even have to ask the question at all.  
>In Christmas Town, we took on the slightly different forms that it gives us. Demyx's were less noticeable since Roxas had arranged for him to keep some of those changes outside of this world, but the rest of us were obvious. Like me, Axel still retained most of the Halloween Town one, just a little more festive.<br>"Jack, when we get there can I ask you to talk to Santa about the presents?"  
>"Of course Sora, but why?"<br>"Because Lock, Shock and Barrel are also there, and I want to catch them before they cause any trouble. Besides, Santa will also want to ask about that," I nodded to his Santa suit.  
>We paused on the way through to pay respects to Santa, who wordlessly understood when we didn't stop. Just as I'd thought, the troublesome trio were already getting stuck into the presents, and didn't notice our arrival.<br>I crept close so they wouldn't notice, then took full advantage of my apparent vampiric appearance to treat them to a grin as I told them, "Y'know, most people wait until Christmas rolls around to open presents." The three froze, turned to look, then completely ignored me, laughing and running around the room. I guess being from Halloween Town kind of meant they were used to stuff like that.  
>Axel caught Lock as he ran past, who struggled in the air futilely. Demyx repeated the same for Barrel, while the rest of us cornered Shock, who got free by throwing one of his pumpkin bombs at his only to have Jack arrive and scoop him up.<br>"I'm terribly sorry about this Sandy Claws," he was saying. "It's a good thing Sora knew they were here."  
>"Yes, yes... but are they responsible for all the missing presents?"<br>"We didn't steal anything!" Lock exclaimed.  
>"Yeah, we were just looking for parts for Finkelstein's experiment," Shock added.<br>"Experiment?" Jack wondered.  
>"He's making us a friend – one we get to boss around!" Barrel told him.<br>"It's true the Doctor has been hard at work making something lately...2  
>"Who'd want to steal these presents anyway?" Lock said, probably hoping to be let go. "They're not scary or gross or anything, so what good are they?"<br>"Well if that's what you think of them, maybe you should all go on back to Halloween Town instead," I said. "Go ahead and let them go – I'm sure they know if they cause trouble here again, I'll be right on their tail."  
>The three of them were dropped unceremoniously together, shared a look, then made a hasty exit.<br>"So who did steal the presents?" Santa wondered.  
>"Doctor Finkelstein's Experiment," I replied absently. "But we can't do anything about it just yet, because Sally's about to come in to tell us..."<br>"Oh, thank goodness you're all here!" Sally said, bursting in. "The Heartless are back in the town square, and the Mayor's... well, you know he can't handle these things."  
>"I'm never going to get used to that," Axel muttered. "First Roxas, then you, honestly can't you even pretend to be surprised by these things happening?"<br>"I'm sorry, how's this?" I gave an exaggeration of surprise, then in mock astonishment exclaimed, "The Heartless are menacing Halloween Town again? Who would have thought it would happen?"  
>"Behave," Santa chided me, though he was trying to conceal an amused grin himself.<br>Along the way back to Halloween Town, I took the time to explain the real point behind Christmas presents, and that it was not just the wrapping that mattered. He seemed puzzled by the idea at first until it was explained in more detail. I'm still not entirely sure he understands to be entirely honest, since he tends to jump from one idea to the next without finishing the first, but I think I got the general idea across.  
>The Heartless in Halloween Town weren't much trouble, and we were able to clear them out and retrieve several more presents. After my explanation, he took care not to forget what was inside any open presents either.<br>Doctor Finkelstein did not believe that his experiment could have done any of this, insisting that it had been stolen. So we promised him we'd get to the bottom of that for him too, then headed back to Christmas Town as Jack came up with his idea to lure the Experiment in.  
>Santa was reluctant to let us use presents as bait, but went along once he understood and gave us access to the clearing just inside Christmas Town for us to lure it in.<br>Do I really need to go into detail in the outcome? Contrary to what the Doctor had said, the heart I'd unlocked for him on my very first visit to Halloween Town was within the Experiment, and that meant all I had to do was lock it again. As they say, knowledge is power.  
>Locking that heart caused it to collapse to the ground unmoving again, saving us a battle. Santa gave Jack his wish, letting him fly the sleigh for a time, then we allowed Jack and Sally there happy moments. Just before we left, I decided there was one last thing I had to do once it started snowing, and that was to get everyone back to Christmas Town and have a good snowball fight.<br>So I can be childish at times – but isn't everyone entitled to be when it comes to snowball fights?


	66. A True King's Challenge

There were very few places left to go now, very few events still to happen before I'd finally reach the World that Never Was. The closer I seemed to get, the larger it seemed to loom in my mind. But keeping busy kept my mind off it, so I concentrated on continuing with our visits to tie up the plots in each world.  
>During the snowball fight, Sally had stopped by to give me yet another keychain, this time the one for Decisive Pumpkin. It's only slightly weaker than Fenrir, but gives a massive boost to a combo finisher if the combo goes on long enough. Combine it with Fatal Crest... but for now I kept Fenrir out.<br>The Pride Lands came next, and with them of course my favourite form. As he had last time, Roxas appeared separately to me, quickly helping Axel get used to being a lion. While as a lion he wasn't exactly red, he did have the start of a mane behind his neck that resembled his usual hairstyle. Between that and his appearing slightly older than the rest of us, it was easy to tell him apart.  
>Donald of course took on his own usual form here, taking to the air easily with one of his various wands grasped in the talons. We'd elected to leave Jafar's staff in Agrabah this time, having seen what trouble it could cause. I guess I forgot to mention that.<br>The first stop within the Pride Lands was of course going to be Simba. I had a feeling that despite anything I'd said or done on the last visit, he was still going to have the same trouble he normally does. We were intercepted by the hyenas before we got there though.  
>"Oh, it's you guys," one of them muttered, disappointed. "We were hoping you were a meal."<br>"Now really, didn't I beat sense into you last time?" I told him. "Go get your food someplace else."  
>"Don't give me that... this is as much our home as it is the lion's... now thanks to you we're back to scavenging for a living."<br>"I could arrange for you to go to a place where you'd probably never have to worry again?" I replied, giving a broad grin. Given what lion's teeth are like, that kind of grin unsettled them more than a little, and they fled. "I love doing that to them," I said to no one in particular.  
>"You're easily amused," Roxas noted dryly. "Can we move on now?"<br>"Don't you want to enjoy yourself a little more?" I laughed. "I mean, how often does anyone get to be a lion, huh?"  
>"Sora, don't you think there are more important things to get on with?" he answered plainly.<br>"Of course, but you can't go letting something like that get in the way of a little fun. Besides, didn't I hear you complaining you couldn't have a go in our snowball fight?"  
>Roxas quit arguing with me after that. I don't need to see the future to do that to him once in a while.<br>We saw one of the various ghosts of Scar along the way, but it vanished before we got close. There was no point in doing anything about it just yet, so we ignored them.  
>The lionesses were understandably lacking faith in Simba, and perhaps because of this actually welcomed us. The obvious reason being they'd want a lion that could actually rule, and after seeing how I'd handled myself, perhaps they hoped I, or one of the others, would take it up.<br>Tempting, but I do kinda have other things to worry about. Still, King Liam...  
>We entered the King's Den and found Simba curled up. It looked like he was asleep actually.<br>"Be careful, Sora," Roxas warned me quietly. "You don't want him to snap on you."  
>"He won't do that," I replied confidently. "Wait here," I told them, then approached Simba.<br>"What's he going to do?" Axel murmured to Roxas.  
>"With any luck, give Simba a metaphorical kick in the backside to get to do what he's meant to."<br>"Hush," I whispered back. "You may want to put paws over your ears. Or as close as you can manage," I added for Donald and Goofy, then turned back to Simba. "Alright, Simba!" I barked, loud enough to send echoes around and out of the cage. "Get up and stop feeling sorry for yourself! You're a king, not some spoiled lion cub, and you've got work to do!"  
>Behind me, Roxas winced. "So much for the diplomatic method," he muttered.<br>Simba jumped up, coming to his feet growling at me.  
>"Oh, cut that out!" I continued. "You know as well as I do that hurting me won't do you any good. It's no good you saying you can't handle this; you're the Lion King, and you have to handle it. Never mind what your father would do, he's not here – this is up to you to handle, and you can't stay in Mufasa's shadow your whole life!"<br>Simba was taken back by that, and the growling cut off. Maybe I'd been a little harsh, but it did seem to have gotten the point across to him.  
>Roxas padded up beside me. "You know what your friends would say," he told Simba in a less harsh voice than I'd used. "Live for today, and find your own path."<br>Simba sighed, "I guess I was too busy worrying what my father would have done. Thanks for this... but next time Sora, catch me when I'm awake? You almost frightened me out of my fur!"  
>"That was the whole idea," I replied smugly. It'd worked perfectly.<br>"Are you boys done yelling?" Nala asked us from the den's entrance. "Or did you want to fight some more."  
>"Fight? What would give you that idea?" Roxas asked, his face the picture of innocence.<br>Simba joined her though and said, "I've... behaved badly. Done things I shouldn't have done. But I'm going to put this right, right now. Sora's put my sense back into me."  
>"Along with a ringing in his ears, no doubt," Axel murmured to Demyx.<br>"I'm glad to hear you say that, Simba," Nala replied. "Promise me you'll let Sora help you with the dangerous parts?"  
>"You really need to ask, huh?"<br>"I'm counting on you, Simba – me, the pride... and our baby."  
>"Congratulations," I murmured in passing to Nala on the way out. I think I must have been the only one of us to have made any comment on it. She seemed to appreciate it, at least.<br>Simba was the one leading us here now – if any of us took charge, it would mean he wouldn't be handling it, and that was his task. It felt odd, following him as the others usually followed me.  
>Our first stop was Rafiki's hollowed out cavern.<br>"Ho ho! The King is ready to be a king now?" Rafiki asked as we came in.  
>"You make it sound like I wasn't ready in the first place," Simba replied defiantly. "I <em>am<em> the king, and I'm going to _be_ the king, my way."  
>"It is about time, no? So what is it that you want, King Simba?"<br>"I want to know about the ghosts of Scar that have been appearing around Pride Rock."  
>"A being with no body. Created when the evil heart of Scar met the hesitating heart of Simba."<br>"It's not hesitating any longer," he asserted firmly.  
>"Looks like you really did give him a good kick," Roxas muttered to me as their conversation continued. "I don't think we're going to have to go after him at the oasis now. Just take on the giant Heartless."<br>"Oh, joy," I replied sarcastically. "Just what I always wanted."  
>"Stop that, you enjoy taking them on as much as you do anything else."<br>"Y'know Roxas, sometimes I wonder if your sense of humour isn't a little warped. I don't like taking on giant Heartless that might just have the ability to stomp on me without a second thought."  
>"The trick is, not to let it."<br>"Are you guys listening there?" Simba growled at us. "If I'm going to take on these ghosts of Scar, I want you there to back me up, so pay attention."  
>"Of course, your Majesty," I grinned back, trying not to laugh.<br>"Are you making fun of me?"  
>"Would I do a thing like that?"<br>Simba bore that for a moment, then gave up with a sigh, "Why me?"  
>"Because you are the king!" Rafiki insisted.<br>"I know that," Simba replied absently. "I was just wondering why it had to be me in general."  
>"If it weren't you, then who else?" Roxas told him. "When major events happen, someone has to deal with them. Each event has a key person that can deal with it in the most appropriate way, but if they don't do it, someone else has to. This is one of those events – and you're the one who has to do it."<br>"Since when did you become all wise?" Axel asked him sceptically.  
>"Blame Sora. He's always thinking weird stuff like that."<br>"Am not!" I spluttered.  
>"Oh yeah? Who is it that gets to see and hear what you're thinking when we're not here, huh?"<br>"You could at least give me a little privacy, you know!"  
>"Hey, all you gotta do is ask!"<br>"Cut that out, both of you," Simba told us, striding out.  
>As I'd effectively scared Simba into taking his place, Roxas had been right – there was no need to go to the oasis, no need to visit the elephant graveyard. The ghosts of Scar were still gathering out in the savannah, and one of them had come to Pride Rock. All the lionesses had fled but for Nala, who was standing her ground against a single Scar ghost.<br>"Get away from her," Simba snarled at it. It looked at him, then laughed. Simba pounced, causing it to disappear. "Watch me, Nala," he said then. "With the help of Sora and his friends, I'm going to drive Scar out for good. Rafiki will be here with you until I get back."  
>Nala simply nodded, then we were off again, heading down into the savannah. The ghosts of Scar were gathering, all creating a massive form of dark energy that became the titanic Groundshaker Heartless, easily the largest I'd ever seen but for the World of Chaos.<br>It was slightly reminiscent of a Living Bone Heartless with a Shaman Heartless on it's back, but the Groundshaker was not merely bone. It looked similar to a massive rhino or similar creatures, though it's size meant it was far more dangerous than that. Most of it was covered in plant life, even going so far as to have a fully grown tree on it's back behind the giant Shaman there.  
>Simba gave a massive roar of defiance, then like a spring uncoiling he ran toward it. He was by far the fastest of the lot of us, leaving us hard pressed to catch up. Roxas quickly gave some idea of how to fight this monstrosity to the others, though he left me out probably because he knew I'd do this my own way, just like Simba.<br>The Groundshaker had been on the far side of the savannah to us, but after Simba's roar it had charged for us. As we approached, the Shaman began shooting lightning at us from it's eyes, then when it realized it had too poor an aim to catch us it fell back to creating searing pillars of fire. Donald was caught by one, having to quickly heal himself lest he be finished by another. Those of us who were lions found it easier, weaving between the pillars as we tried to get closer to the Groundshaker.  
>When we got nearby, the pillars cut of; the Shaman could not see us here, and did not want to risk harming the Groundshaker for us. But we had to remain wary of the massive feet, each of which fully capable of stomping on any one of us. That would hurt no matter what we did, and we all tried to avoid it, while at the same time trying to find a way up to the Shaman on its back.<br>I was first to start the ascent, digging the claws on my paws in deep to keep a grip as I pulled myself up. Simba caught on, but unlike me he simply jumped up in leaps and bounds, not needing to climb. I could probably have done it myself if I'd tried, but I prefer to go with something I know is going to work.  
>Simba aimed for the head though, biting into any vulnerable areas and tearing at them. The eyes were especially vulnerable, though it was clear from a chance glance at his expression the taste was not going to be appearing on any gourmet menus. The Groundshaker shook violently underneath us – if it had been given a voice, it would surely be screaming in pain. Simba and I dug our claws in deeper to remain on even as I continued my climb up to the back, while Axel and Demyx, who had been trying to climb, simply dropped off and got clear until it was safe again.<br>Roxas naturally had been climbing the opposite side to me, and so we both emerged onto the top at the same time. We took a Keyblade each, then ran for the tree that concealed the Shaman. Donald flew up nearby to join us, and just in time. The three of us unleashed a barrage of fire magic that set the foliage alight, forcing the Shaman from its cover. We attacked as much as we dared, keeping a wary eye on the fire, until another of Simba's attacks caused the Groundshaker to convulse violently again, trying to throw us off. This time, it succeeded in getting the two of us down, but Simba held firm.  
>The Groundshaker had been close to a cliff edge, and had turned sharply to get us off. Donald thought quickly, making use of a series of Gravity and Magnet spells to get us back over solid ground safely, then we were off in pursuit of the Groundshaker again.<br>It was thrashing around almost wildly now, and with it running away from us we had no idea what condition Simba was in. I could see Axel and Demyx climbing the back legs on either side, with Axel trying to control the fires enough to allow them to get back up again. The fires had spread too far though, and the scorched bones of the Heartless were starting to show through.  
>The Groundshaker reached the far side of the savannah and turned again, now heading right for us. Roxas and I veered off in different directions in order to avoid us both getting caught, but it seemed unnecessary. Simba's attacks and the fires we'd set had done too much damage, and the Groundshaker stumbled, lost its footing and crashed to the ground, carving a trench in the ground behind it.<br>The fires were almost gone now, with little left to burn. We all scrambled up over the bones, leaping from bone to bone in many cases to reach the apparently infuriated Shaman that seemed somehow attached to the back of the Groundshaker. While we all attacked with with tooth and claw, Keyblade and magic,we all stepped back when it was almost finished for Simba to deliver the finishing blow, causing a veritable gale of darkness to howl around us as it faded away.


	67. Once More, Old Friend

We remained in the Pride Lands only a short time longer, to keep an eye on Simba and make sure he didn't start backsliding. It was clearly apparent by that time he had no problems leading, after almost ordering us to move on.  
>I started us back toward Hollow Bastion, knowing by the point that it was most likely about time I got back to it again, but as we passed the Disney Castle we got an somewhat garbled messages from the two chipmunks telling us something had happened there. It was hard to make sense of what they were trying to tell us.<br>So we stopped by to find out what was making them so excited or worried, or perhaps even both. After a few moments frantically telling us to follow them, we were back before the Cornerstone again.  
>"Looks just the same to me," I told them. "Door to Timeless River, Cornerstone of Light, no thorns..."<br>"Behind the Cornerstone," one of them told me. Right behind it was a strange dark portal in the wall, not quite like a dark corridor.  
>"The Organization?" Goofy wondered, also noticing the resemblance.<br>"No, I know what this is now," I replied, then without hesitation stepped through. The others warily followed. I knew what I'd find on the other side, and I wasn't disappointed.  
>The badlands, a dry, rocky area that has the sometime name of the Keyblade Graveyard, the only remnants of a great battle once fought there being the Lingering Will of Terra, and his Keyblade, the Ends of the Earth, before him.<br>"We came here for some old armour and a Keyblade?" Axel remarked. "What are you going to do, just take the Keyblade."  
>"No. Stay here unless... eh, you'll know what the unless is when you see it. Just wait here." I knew Terra would likely attack me as he does Sora, mistaking me for Xehanort. Given that I had a bit of darkness in me now, it seemed even more likely. Terra would recognise it easily. But I approached all the same, until I stood before the towering armour. Actually it wasn't too much taller than me, but it felt like it was taller.<br>His armour creaked faintly, and his voice murmured three names. "Aqua... Sora... Ven..."  
>This further confirmed it; I was in their story too somehow.<br>"Terra," I murmured in response. "Why do you know me already?"  
>Slowly, as if it was a great effort, the helmet tilted back to look at me.<br>"Who are you? I can feel it... we've met... no... I know you... Sora."  
>"That's right. But why do you know me, Terra?"<br>"You... fought alongside us," he continued, apparently oblivious. "Saved Aqua. But Ven... why weren't you there, Sora?"  
>"Because it was necessary," I replied, improvising as I had only uncertain ideas of what he was on about. "I did what I had to do for a reason."<br>"There was another way, Sora. You could have done something." It was almost an accusation.  
>"But with consequences that would have had serious repercussions, Terra. Changing the future is a touchy business when it's also your past. One wrong move, and I might have ceased to exist."<br>There was a long silence, where Terra bowed his head again, then used his Keyblade to push himself back up, but did not yet pull it from the ground.  
>"Was it... the right thing to do?" he asked me.<br>"I wouldn't have done it otherwise."  
>"I see... then perhaps... you should take that." He pointed with one arm to a small chest not far away. "You told me... if you ever lost it to see that it was returned to you."<br>Wordlessly I went to that chest and opened it. Inside was what appeared to be the shoulder piece from Ven's armour, but in differing colours – it was dusty with age, but brushing the dust off revealed it had once been a bright white, with golden trim on it. Could something have happened to Ven's armour to do this, or was this something else entirely.  
>Terra seemed not to realize that as I was right now, I had yet to go through what he remembered, so I could not show any sign of my curiosity here. Instead I simply nodded back to him.<br>"Thank you. I... wondered where I'd left it."  
>"Once more?" Terra asked then, sounding almost hopeful.<br>"I'm sorry?"  
>"One more spar," he said, more insistently. "For old time's sake?"<br>I took a moment to consider, then agreed, "One more time, old friend. See if you can beat me this time," I added. Of course, I had no idea of any previous outcomes. But Terra seemed not to notice, pulling the Ends of the Earth out. "No!" I told the others as they readied for a fight. "Stay out of this one."  
>I had expected his attacks to be slow but powerful, but this was the Lingering Will, animated by the lost mind of Terra – there was much it could do that I had not expected.<br>The attacks came almost instantly, swift and oh boy did he get a lot of power behind them! Where I drew back to take stock, he used an attack I later knew as Ultima Cannon on me, blasting energy toward me. The first shot hit me full on, slamming me up against one of the many rock pillars, but the second one, stealing a trick from Roxas in Agrabah, I snagged on a Keyblade, spun and sent hurtling back toward him.  
>Terra was by no means unprepared for this, simply sending a third shot out. Where the two collided there was a flash of light and then they were gone. Terra had waited for the light to clear before coming after me again, but I'd memorised where he was and started to run for him before he'd even got the third shot off.<br>Now I had the chance to strike back – my two Keyblades were hardly any match in sheer power for him and his one, but they still had power, and though his armour showed no sign of my attacks, he seemed forced to react as if it were not there, reeling back from each of my own swift strikes.  
>Not to be outdone however, he finally stopped my long chain of attacks by grasping Fatal Crest as it descended toward him, throwing it and with it me upwards high into the air, followed by the Ends of the Earth as he changed to his Keyblade Glider. He flew it right at me, forcing me to decide between either catching it and boarding it, or fending off his own now unarmed attacks.<br>I decided to try for both, using Fatal Crest to try and get some purchase on the Glider so I could get aboard, and lashing out with Fenrir to keep him from stopping me. I had once more underestimated his strength though, and he simply pushed back and changed direction to keep me clear.  
>His glider prevented him from doing much damage though, and when I impacted the ground, rather painfully at that, he reverted back to holding his Keyblade. No matter how much landing had hurt, I wasn't going to leave myself a sitting duck in the face of this.<br>Remember fighting Cloud way back in Olympus Coliseum, he uses a dashing attack? Now Terra pulled out the same on me, except he did not leave himself open at it's conclusion, instead ending with a flurry of attacks that ensured I could not be anywhere near him without getting caught by at least a dozen such strikes. This was one seriously tough opponent!  
>I realized as long as he could push back my attacks so easily even unarmed, I was going to make no further progress unless I could get him to repeat his trick with Ultima Cannon, so instead I dismissed Fatal Crest and took Fenrir in both hands. Fenrir's strong by itself, this added yet more to that.<br>One more time Terra and I clashed in the simplest of ways, one Keyblade on another, but this time as I could put more force behind mine, I was not pushed back so easily when I defended against his attacks, and he started to find it hard to ignore my own ones.  
>Finally I saw my break, a brief chance that I might have missed had I not been searching for any way to cut through his defences. Terra lightened his grip on the Ends of the Earth just before he made a downward strike so he could hold it differently for best power behind it. Only a tiny window of opportunity, but also the chance I'd been looking for.<br>I continued to fend off his attacks, watching his hands carefully all the while. Then he raised them up for another downward blow. I leaped up, hitting that hand hard with everything I still had left and hoping it worked.  
>It did. Ends of the Earth slipped from his grip and clattered to the rocks behind him. I landed not long after, and quickly put myself between Terra and it, intending to continue the fight. Terra straightened up though, summoning it back to him and impaling it back into the rocky earth.<br>"Just like always," he murmured, satisfied. "Go – your battles lay ahead of you still. You are more than a match for them." Then he sank back down to lean on his Keyblade.  
>"Thanks, Terra," I murmured to myself. Though I had yet to go through whatever made the two of us friends, his words still held great meaning to me. If Terra was certain of my aptitude for what had yet to come, why was I still doubting it myself? I gave Terra a respectful nod, then rejoined the others. "We can leave now," I told them. "We've done what we had to here. The portal is safe."<br>"What about that thing he gave you?" Demyx asked.  
>"Don't worry about it. I've still got it."<br>"Yeah, but what does it do?"  
>"I don't think this is the time to find out. Come on – we've got to get back to Hollow Bastion."<br>We did pause briefly to reassure Chip, Dale and Queen Minnie, who'd shown up when she heard we had stopped by, that the portal was safe. I did advise them to leave it alone all the same – Terra deserved his sleep until he, like Aqua and Ven, could be brought back. Whether I'd get to participate in that was not something I even thought about. The way I saw it, once I defeated Xemnas, there was little left to do.


	68. Clues to Clu

With the mysterious portal at the Disney Castle dealt with, we continued on course for Hollow Bastion. This visit would see our second trip to Space Paranoids, and after the events of the first one this would be entirely new to me. All I had to go on was Tron's message for me: 'Both in first, Clu in second'  
>Clu, as I mentioned back during that visit, is a program created by Flynn for differing reasons in the original Tron movie and the Tron: Legacy one. In the former he's a short-lived ally to Flynn, in the latter he's the main enemy. I had to assume something of the same had happened here.<br>Along the way, I examined the piece of armour Terra had 'returned' to me. It was very similar to the shoulder piece of Ven's own armour, the part that you see when it isn't in use, but was more simplistic in design than his. It seemed designed to protect slightly less of the arm than his did, keeping just to the shoulder.  
>Once I brushed the last of the dust of the ages off it, I saw my previous description of it had been right, it was indeed a brightly burnished white, with a golden trim around each edge, between each part. I knew of no armour that matched this, and yet... evidently it held some link to me, else why would Terra have believed he was returning it?<br>Almost experimentally, I unfolded the worn strap underneath and set it on my own shoulder. Naturally, it fit perfectly, not restricting my movements at all. While it didn't weigh much, it wasn't a weight I was yet accustomed to having on my shoulder, so it took a moment for it to settle into a comfortable position. Clearly this was made for me.  
>I know how all three of Eraqus's apprentices activate their armour, and did the same for this myself. It glowed for a moment, but then faded without doing anything. Perhaps it had lost whatever magic it required to function? Or was the problem with me, was I missing something that I had yet to obtain when this armour had first been given to me – by it's perception that is, when it was created new and handed to me, whenever that may have been.<br>But then that left me with the question... where and when would I get something like this? Who made Keyblade Armour, and why would they have created some that were undeniably created for me? There was a puzzle behind this, and I was determined to piece it together – I love a good mental challenge more than I do the physical one, because they don't wear you out so easily.  
>For now though, I removed this piece of what may once have been my own armour and set it aside as Hollow Bastion came into view.<p>

Donald had been filled in on what he'd missed by now, including most of the key parts of Space Paranoids. He'd complained again at being left out, but as he knew the explanation these complaints were short lived. I did apologise to him for it by getting him an ice cream of Scrooge, who had at last recalled how to make sea-salt ice cream. I actually treated all of us to one – who says playing hero means you can't have a few nice things once in a while?  
>But as we continued on into the main Borough of Hollow Bastion, one of Cid's Claymores was set off, aiming for us. They're easily avoided normally though, but when some Heartless from Space Paranoids showed up, it became a little more troublesome to avoid them, and fend them off.<br>Yuffie emerged from Merlin's house on hearing the fighting, helping us deal with the last of them then urging us quickly inside. Cid was already working at the computer, typing away rapidly. Sometimes I envy him for that kind of speed on a keyboard.  
>"Alright, now just what's going on here now?" I asked, closing the door behind us. "And don't just assume I know, because this time I don't."<br>"Something's hacked the town defences," Yuffie explained. "Cid's been trying to track down who, what and how, but it keeps throwing up some kind of techno-babble."  
>"You know something about these things, Leon said," Merlin told me. "Perhaps you can be of some assistance?"<br>Even here I can't get out of people pestering me with their computer problems. It's the bane of my life.  
>"Move aside," I sighed to Cid. I still had the root password, and as expected it gave me the access I needed. It also told me someone had found my toolkit of scripts I'd written last time, and either subtly altered them, removed them entirely, or completely rewritten them – and none of them in my favour.<br>Furthermore, it told me who had enacted these changes and taken over the Claymores – a username that had appeared on the system only hours after I'd left it, assigned to a program. Both the program's name and the username were identical – Clu.  
>I attempted to locate Clu and remove him, but he's a smart program and had carefully masked his trails, leaving cleverly disguised false ones in their place. Each time I thought I had found him so I could terminate him, it turned out to be another decoy. This would have to be done from within.<br>Before I turned away from the terminal though, I went looking once more. Tron's program was still there fortunately, though like Clu's program it too was set up so that any attempt to access it returned a decoy. Something strange was going on there.  
>Finally I looked for Flynn. He too was still active, and unlike Tron he was safe and sound, though if my guesses were accurate he was most likely being held somewhere, or had put himself beyond the reach of Clu.<br>"Don't log out of that terminal," I told Cid. "It has the access you need, but you need to be careful with it. Log out, and you'll lose that access, and I'm going to be too busy to come back and input it again. Whatever you do, don't touch any processes with our names." Then something occurred to me and I added, "Or one named 'Liam' either. That one especially."  
>"Well that's fine, but are ya gonna tell us what's going on or not?" Cid demanded.<br>"Someone's created a program that's gained more powers than it should, and I can't terminate it from here – I have to go back into Space Paranoids to handle it. Only if I terminate it can it be stopped. Just think of it as a cheap MCP wannabe."  
>"And the Heartless?" Merlin asked.<br>"There's a program within Ansem's computer that can create them. It stands to reason that this new program is responsible for them as well. Where's Leon?"  
>"He went on up to Ansem's computer to try and put a stop to it. We haven't heard from him since."<br>Uh oh. Anyone else get a bad feeling like I did at that moment? Roxas certainly shared it, and you can be sure if both he and I get one, there's something bad happening.  
>Interestingly, Demyx also caught a hint of that and shared a concerned look with me.<br>"You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.  
>"Probably," I replied. "One way to find out."<br>So we left Merlin's house without another word and headed toward the Postern. Clu had evidently discovered we were here, as the Heartless came thick and fast the closer we got to it. In the end, they were driven back only be some unexpected help from the Gullwings.  
>While Yuna and Rikku held them off, Paine pulled on of my arms up, dropped something into my hand then left again. It turned out to be the chain for their Keyblade, the Gull Wing. With that handed to me, the three of them worked together to open a path for us to continue onward and reach Ansem's Study. They fight mostly with magic, in case you're wondering, and on a more powerful scale than anything I had behind me.<br>We encountered no one at all on the way, until we reached the same room where I'd previously taunted the MCP into pulling us into Space Paranoids. Aerith waited for us there, while Tifa we saw was fighting alongside Cloud to handle the constant stream of Heartless. The Gullwings, who'd accompanied us this far, quickly came to their aid.  
>"Did you check in with Cid?" Aerith asked us.<br>"Sure thing. We found out what the cause is, but we can only deal with it inside Tron's world."  
>"Hey, what's this we?" Axel said. "You're the one who did all the computer stuff to find out!"<br>"Yeah, and you get to join in when we get there," I replied absently. "What happened to Leon, Aerith?"  
>"He was here with Cloud, trying to find out what was going on while Cloud defended him, but then he just... disappeared. Something came out of that wall and hit him, that's what Cloud said."<br>"I thought so," Demyx nodded. "This program of yours took him into Space Paranoids, right?" he asked me.  
>"You were thinking was I was thinking then," I agreed. "And I never noticed back at Cid's because I never thought to look. I was interested in specifics, and he wasn't among them... but why would Clu take Leon into that world?"<br>"Because he was a threat?" Donald suggested.  
>"I don't think so – I'm the real threat here. If Clu was created how I suspect he was – by Flynn – then he knows that I'm the one to watch out for. Leon might have some skill with computers, Cid too, but I outclass them both."<br>"A trap then," Axel said. "To lure you in."  
>"That doesn't make any sense," Goofy protested. "We'd already be going there to deal with the town's defences, and that there Heartless creator."<br>"Unless it was a form of assurance – to make sure he got me, and not just you guys. It's a bit of a stretch still though... I get the feeling I'm missing something."  
>Axel looked thoughtful, then said, "I know he doesn't get it on demand, but maybe we should ask Roxas. See what he can tell us."<br>We waited – normally Roxas can hear whatever I do without a problem.  
>"Well?" Axel said after a time.<br>"Either he's ignoring us, or he's busy."  
><em>Sorry, what? I was busy.<br>_"He was busy," I sighed. "We're trying to figure out why Clu would take Leon," I said, even though I knew I looked a bit crazy talking to someone no one else could hear.  
><em>Oh. Right. You're there already? Gimme a moment, I saw something on this a while back, gotta remember it.<em> After a few moments, he went on, _Right. Someone else is there in that world that shouldn't be – I think it's one of the Organization, but there's something else too. Could just be because it's a computer world, I can't tell for certain. Watch your back in there, and free Flynn first. He'll be able to give you the rest.  
><em>I relayed that to the others even as I used the computer here to prepare for our own return to Space Paranoids. Donald and Axel, having never been here before, were understandably apprehensive, but they trusted me, if not Roxas in Axel's case, and said nothing.  
>This was going to be interesting. A known world, with an entirely unknown plot, one that would never normally happen. I knew Sora had caused these changes to give me a challenge, he'd said as much since I'd woken up after Castle Oblivion. I was interested to see what Sora had cooked up, and what any other changes Roxas or I had caused would have done to it.<p> 


	69. The Replica Reveals

Space Paranoids did not look immediately any different than it had done before, aside from the minor changes to Axel and Donald as they entered the world. Like Demyx, Axel took on the familiar greys and gained the signature lines of a program, though the flames on his shirt were blue now instead of red. Otherwise there was as usual for the members of the Organization it seemed, no difference in the slightest.  
>We had arrived in the Dataspace, where we had aided Tron in accessing the DTD database. The various screens around us were inactive however, leaving the ambient lighting much lower than it had been before.<br>"So this is your computer world," Axel murmured. "Bet you feel right at home here, huh Sora?"  
>"I'd feel more at home if I knew what Clu was up to," I replied. "I don't like this, not knowing as much as I usually do."<br>"Now you know how the rest of us feel," Donald told me.  
>"Stop that. First things first... Flynn. Roxas suggested he was being held somewhere, and that implies the Pit Cell."<br>"What if he's not there?" Demyx asked.  
>"Don't start with the what-ifs. We'll come to things as we get to them."<br>Exiting the Dataspace was easy, but showed that much of the rest of Space Paranoids had also been darkened. The circuits still glowed their various colours, but not as brightly as they had before. Demyx and Goofy, having been here before, ranged on ahead to scout out anything that was different, anything they considered worth note.  
>To further concern me, Demyx returned from one of those early scouts looking worried.<br>"Hey, Sora. When we were last here, you locked out that power core, right? Only you could affect it you said."  
>"Yeah, why?"<br>"You're not gonna like this," he told me, leading the way down to one of the breaks in the walls that lead to it.  
>The power core I'd taken care to ensure never could go offline... was offline. Trying to reach it caused a red barrier to appear that barred the path to all of us. More of Clu's work? But what was the point of denying power to a system that required it to exist?<br>"Where's Goofy?" I asked him.  
>"Still up ahead. He wanted to go on to the pit cell, but the transport is still out from last time."<br>"I'll restore it in a moment. I want you two to go on over and free Flynn, if he's there. There isn't much space there for any trouble, but watch yourselves all the same."  
>Demyx nodded and left. I placed one hand on the wall beside the barrier, causing one of my smaller access terminals to appear, immediately logging into it with the root password – which in turn caused my own circuits to glow green again.<br>"Is that really necessary?" Axel asked, pointing at them.  
>"It wasn't my idea," I replied.<br>"How are you going to restore the transport?"  
>"That's what backups are for, Axel. I just have to find the right one, one from before the MCP or Sark destroyed it. Here it is," I added, finding and restoring it. "That was the easy part."<br>"That... so what's the hard part?"  
>"Breaking down this barrier. Clu created it, I can tell that much, and he's... well, he's a stimulating opponent. I've never met a program yet that could best me though, and I don't intend to let him be the first."<br>Clu's barriers appeared to be more resilient than I'd expected though, withstanding anything I could come up with to disable or delete them. In the end I lost patience, and simply created a new entry be smashing a hole in the wall.  
>"Someone's got a bad temper," Flynn's voice told me. I glanced over to see him supported between Goofy and Demyx, weakened but somehow still retaining his good humour.<br>"Whatever works," I shrugged. "What on earth have you been doing here Flynn, and just what made you think creating Clu was a good idea?"  
>"I needed an extra pair of hands, one that knew anything I did. He just... got outta control. Wanted to take control of the system and lure you in. He's afraid of you Sora, but he'll stop at nothing to get his hands on you. You're the key to his leaving this world, you see."<br>"Wait, you said lure me in – how?"  
>"He found something he called a Heartless Manufactory, and a system for some town defences, took control of them and set them against the User world outside."<br>"So... he didn't bring in someone else? No other extra Users he brought in."  
>"No, but I saw this weirdo in a black coat sneaking around the IO tower. Like his last time he was here," he nodded to Demyx beside him. "But this guy had a black ponytail and an eyepatch. I overheard him talking to someone, couldn't see who. Sounded like a disagreement, the other guy didn't want to be here, wanted to know why, and this black coat guy said it was to get you here."  
>"Xigbar," Axel identified our other opponent.<br>"Or one of his replicas," I added. "Now we know why there was two attempts to lure me here. There's more than one thread at work here." I thought for a moment, trying to guess our best course of action. "Donald, will your heal magic help Flynn?"  
>"I can heal anything," he asserted, sending one at him. Flynn let off some of the weight he'd been supporting on Goofy, then Demyx.<br>"That's some powerful magic you got there, little friend," he told Donald. "What now, Sora?"  
>"What about Tron? What happened to him?"<br>"I honestly don't know, and that troubles me."  
>"The grid?" I suggested, but Flynn shook his head.<br>"Clu's restricted access to it. Only if you're near him can you get in."  
>"The IO tower then. But first I want to get this thing back online and find out why it was disabled."  
>Getting it back online wasn't too much of a problem, but keeping it online was troublesome. Something kept shutting it down, and it wasn't until I looked at the data behind it in more detail I found out why. Clu had stolen one of my scripts, altered them to remove the dependency on my presence but keep the extra capabilities I would have had, and set it to automatically shut down the power core. Which it did so, because as far as it was concerned, I was the one telling it to.<br>On the other hand, keeping it online after removing the offending script caused a mass-outbreak of Heartless that would not stop. A second examination revealed, yes, another script at work that caused a constant supply of them. This one I merely removed, and kept a copy of – perhaps if I could re-task it to work in our favour it would be useful, though I did not like the idea of using the Heartless no matter how temporarily.  
>With the flow of Heartless stemmed, we were able to progress through the re-lighted areas toward the IO tower, eliminating the last remnants of the Heartless as we went. The closer we were to the tower, the more powerful the Heartless seemed to be.  
>But once in the same room as the tower, there was only one, a Hostile Program, and it was in bad shape at that. The cause was clearly evident – lying on the ground nearby, though like me covered in circuits and armour that resembled the appearance outside, was Leon. He appeared to be in a bad way.<br>"Leave it to me," Donald murmured to me in passing, already moving to Leon's aid. Goofy went with him to shield them from the Hostile Program's attacks, even sending a few magic spells at it, but it was clear from the moment we'd entered I had it's attention. It may be a Hostile Program, but it was also a Heartless, and as a Heartless it knew when there were Keyblades present – and I had two of them.  
>With the aid of the two Nobody allies on our side, it was hardly much more trouble than the last Hostile Program had been, and was downed easily, allowing us to turn our attention back to Leon.<br>"Well Leon, welcome to Space Paranoids," I said with a faint smile. "Looks like you get to join in the fun after all."  
>"Fun?" he said. "This is your idea of fun? I was doing fine until all the Heartless showed up."<br>"How long ago was that?"  
>"Just a few minutes ago."<br>Oops. "That mighta been my fault. I didn't realize you'd get attacked too."  
>"You can pay me back by getting me out of here."<br>"Aw, come on Leon – you'll miss all the fun then," Demyx teased him. "We've got two different people to go up against – the one who brought you here to lure Sora in, and the one who took over the town's defences to do the same."  
>"He said his name was Xigbar-Three," Leon told me. "The one who brought me in."<br>"Replica," Axel told me. "With a name like that, there's no way he's the real Xigbar."  
>"Right. Did he say where to find him?"<br>"Where the MCP lurked was all he told me," Leon replied. "I _was_ going looking for him, but..."  
>"You didn't have any idea where to go."<br>"You won't tell anyone I got lost in here, will you?"  
>"Your secret is safe with us," I assured him, then helped him up so we could leave. Flynn paused on the way back, looking toward the tower thoughtfully. "What's bugging you?" I asked him.<br>"If this Xigbar-Three is up at the MCP's mesa, then where's Clu?"  
>"He's still technically you, Flynn. Think about it, where would you go in his place?"<br>"Where you'd least expect it, but if he's trying to get his hands on you so he can get out..."  
>"Point taken. He could be anywhere... we'll have to keep an eye out for him."<br>"Don't worry, Sora," Leon told me. "I'll watch your back."  
>That was confidence inspiring, if not comforting. Not the sort of thing I wanted though, being nervous keeps you on edge, and you notice more that way.<br>There was nowhere else to go though. The I/O tower, the dataspace, the pit cell – they'd all been checked by at least one of us, and that meant Clu had to be at the MCP's mesa with Xigbar's Replica.  
>"I want to make a quick detour back to the dataspace," I told them as we left. "I think I can do something about Xigbar from there. Replica or not, he's still a program, and that puts him within the reach of my power."<br>"Can't you do the same for this Clu?" Leon asked me.  
>"Clu's smarter than the average program," Flynn told him. "Which stands to reason, since he's based on me. He's had time to come up with a lot of tricks to throw Sora off."<br>"Unfortunately, they're working," I muttered.  
>Xigbar's Replica did not have the technical experience he needed to hide himself, and it was an easy matter to transfer him to the Dataspace and lock him from going anywhere. He didn't seem too surprised by his situation.<br>"Guess you caught me, eh kid?" he said when he realized.  
>"What did you hope to achieve by bringing me here?" I asked him.<br>"As if I'd tell you something like that."  
>"I have it within my power to cause you a great deal of pain without harming you in the slightest," I told him. "You'll tell me what I want to know."<br>"You won't do that kid," Xigbar-Three grinned. "Xigbar knows more about you than you think. You've got ethics that won't let you do it."  
>"You know something? He's right. But I know someone who isn't so bound by them. Someone who can and will do it."<br>"Oh? And who's he? Your evil twin?"  
>"Close enough," Roxas said through me. "I'm sure I'll have no problem doing it. After all... I'm just a Nobody, aren't I? Oh, wait – that means there are three of us here that would do it... Axel and Demyx are Nobodies too, and you... you're just a fake."<br>The Xigbar Replica's face fell slightly, but recovered quickly.  
>"You'll get nothing from me," he said, taking a small vial out of a pocket and drinking the contents. Nothing happened, and he seemed further surprised. "But... it was meant to destroy me!"<br>"Sora will have to correct me if I'm wrong," Roxas started. "But unless I'm much mistaken, it's impossible for a program to be the cause of it's own deletion. And here in Space Paranoids, you're a program."  
>"Close enough," I echoed his own words, feeling him restore my voice back to me again. "That's why to remove a program, you get a separate program to un-install it. So tell me replica... just what do you know?"<br>"I don't know what Xigbar is planning. But I do know why he left me here. Everything I see and hear is relayed back to him, it's so he can use the data on you for something – I don't know what, before you ask me. All he'd say was that when the time came, it'd make you face yourself. He seemed to put a lot of emphasis on time for some reason."  
><em>Oh, gods,<em> Roxas echoed my own frequent remark of surprise. _I think I know why. Get rid of him, Lee – we don't want him to report this back to Xigbar.  
><em>I didn't attack this replica directly, I instead simply deleted it's data, causing it to vanish.  
>"Alright Roxas," I said then. "Just what did you realize?"<br>"You keep finding references that suggest you appeared in the past, and I keep seeing things where you really are there. I think I know why. What's the difference between Time and Space, anyone?"  
>No one seemed to have the answer, so he turned it over to me.<br>"I guess technically, there isn't any difference. I didn't come up with that myself though, there are others who thought that up."  
>"Exactly," Roxas said, taking the voice back again. "And Xigbar's element is space, and therefore time. At some point when you encounter the real Xigbar, he's going to be responsible for sending you back in time, alone – probably with the hopes that something will happen to you there that'll either rid him of you, or wear you down to the point he can defeat you himself."<br>"But what about facing himself?" Demyx said. "What's that got to do with it?"  
>"I know," Axel said, though he was subdued. "Just before Roxas left the Organization, I overheard Xemnas talking with Saïx. I don't know what they were talking about exactly, but he said something about making Roxas face himself with a replica. Xigbar's going to try to create a replica of Sora, so if he manages to get back from this jaunt in the past..."<br>"I'll have to face off against myself before I can get to him," I finished. "Oh, very neat," I added half in admiration. "He's got a nice plan, I'll give him that much. But now we know about it, the effectiveness of it is compromised. The only thing we don't know is when he's going to do it."


	70. Retaking Control

When you're watching out for an opponent like Clu, having Leon with you is a massive boon. Though he gave no easily perceptible sign of it, he was preternaturally alert and keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary – which to him must have seemed like everything while here, at least until we explained a few things.  
>But sooner or later, we were going to have to confront Clu before we left this world, otherwise Hollow Bastion would not be safe. And that meant we had to find him before he found us, and be prepared for the possibility he would in fact find us first.<br>With Flynn pointing out that Clu would not be one to sit patiently and wait for me to come to him, there was a quandary though – Clu was a program, and undoubtedly capable of having himself transferred from area to area – such as one we'd already visited.  
>I had a simple solution to this, though it was not exactly the nicest way. A computer system thrives on power; remove it and functions inevitably have to go off-line. In this case, I altered the energy core to shut down areas completely on command, a command very carefully tooled so Clu couldn't steal it – and I wasn't even sure that would fool him for long.<br>First was the Dataspace and the I/O tower, and without the latter there would be no way for anything to enter or leave the system. If Clu wanted out, he'd have to crack my script, and even then he wouldn't be able to restore power to an area without me, or a lot of work trying to understand the code behind that script. Either way, he'd have to come to me.  
>The Pit Cell came next, and with it I enforced the same on the game Grid. This had the minor side effect that all programs on the Grid, Heartless included, were transferred to areas that still held power, such as the power core. Most of the actual programs seemed unconcerned, looking mostly human as they just milled around talking to each other.<br>"They're inactive without the I/O tower," Flynn explained. "They won't notice anything but each other until they're needed, or unless it's a threat to them." Sure enough, they moved clear of the Heartless, and us too when a fight broke out, but otherwise ignored everything.  
>"I think we'll have to leave this area active," I said after we'd eliminated the Heartless. "Otherwise we'll just be dragging these programs from area to area with us."<br>"Leave that to me," Flynn replied. "After your shot of magic, I can take on anything that comes up here."  
>"Maybe so, but I think it'd be better if I gave you a few upgrades. Just to better handle anything that does come up."<br>Flynn didn't take that gracefully, but at least had the sense not to object. He recognised my talents with these things, though I still think he could have done better himself.  
>Though he wasn't aware of it, he actually became something like a firewall system for the power core's area – only allowing in whatever was safe, and eliminating anything that wasn't. The only difference was, Flynn was much more intelligent than your standard firewall.<br>This left us only one route to take though – the Solar Sailor, and the path to what had once been the MCP's mesa. Unlike the last time we'd used a Solar Sailor, we had no one who understood how to fly it, so I was forced to quickly find a way into the DTD database, find an old copy of Tron's program, and borrow the relevant code so I could handle it.  
>Also unlike last time we were not attacked en route. We did however see another difference. The tower within which the MCP had been fought was different, and recognisable as the same tower I'd become a Heartless within – Hollow Bastion.<br>There was no Rising Falls, I surmised because the Solar Sailor provided the route to it, and therefore no Beast being attacked by Riku. But the structure itself was identical even if the situation wasn't.  
>Fortunately for us, Roxas could recall my original route through Hollow Bastion better than I could, and was able to guide us through, traversing the lower levels to unlock the main doors and retracing the steps inside.<br>Where I had fought Riku and taken my Keyblade back off him, there was the first sign of any residence or opposition – not even Heartless had shown up this time.  
>He appeared to be human, and was definitely a program. But his face was covered with a mask reminiscent of the one Vanitas wears, and the circuits over him were red, indicating a hostile opponent.<br>"Hey, Sora," Demyx murmured, leaning over to me. "Is it just me, or does he look kinda like..."  
>"Tron," I finished, seeing the similarities myself. "This is more of Clu's work. Don't delete him, whatever any of you do."<br>"Isn't Tron your friend?" Leon asked me.  
>"That's why I don't want him deleted," I replied, then stepped forward. "Tron. Do you remember me?"<br>"Sora," the voice matched, but was harsher.  
>"That's right. We worked together to stop the MCP. We're friends, remember?"<br>"You left. Never came back. You weren't there when you were needed."  
>"I'm only human," I shrugged. "I can't be everywhere at once. You knew I had other things to do when I left you and Flynn to take care of things here."<br>"You could have checked in," Tron told me reproachfully.  
>"That's why I'm here now. I trusted you and Flynn to take care of things."<br>"You should be more careful who you trust," he replied, then in one swift movement he pulled his Identity Disk off his back and hurled it at me. I had to duck just to avoid it, then once more as it returned to him as if it were a boomerang. I did not want to fight Tron, but it seemed like there was little choice. Briefly I nodded to the others to indicate they should join in now.  
>Tron attempted mostly to keep back and use his Identity Disk where he could, moving with an agile grace that helped him avoid almost any attack we sent his way at range. Once we closed in on him though, he took his Identity Disk in one hand and started using it in a similar manner to a small dagger, except it had a larger area to hurt with. Close combat against such an opponent is not the best way to handle things, but it was the only option we had.<br>Leon was the one who turned the tide in that battle, and I was grateful for his presence when I understood his tactics. He kept to one side of Tron, appearing to be a lesser threat by seeming to be a relative novice with his Gunblade, waiting for his opportunity – which was to make a jab, not for Tron, but for the Identity Disk, hooking it on the Gunblade and pulling it out of his hand.  
>"Sora!" he called to me, as I'd stepped back out of the fight for a moment to cast Curaga, healing everyone present. I glanced up and saw what he'd done, then with a flick of the blade he tossed the Disk to me.<br>Leon may not have had the same experience with this world that I did, but he picked things up quickly. He'd understood the import of a program's Identity Disk and what could be done in possession of it, and had retrieved it for me to attempt to restore Tron to his normal condition.  
>I had to work quickly, because without a pair of Keyblades it was not so easy for them to hold him off. Wisdom Form allowed me to leave one Keyblade attacking by itself while I focused, though I kept a wary eye on the battle as Tron tried to push his way to me, and several times I was forced to move quickly out the way to continue working on it.<br>What I discovered in that time was simple, yet highly complex. Clu had blocked out certain parts of Tron's memory among other things, which was easy to identify. The complexity lay in unravelling what he'd put into place to cause that. Clu's code was incredibly complex and taxed me to no end trying to undo it. I couldn't simply restore a backup, because then Tron would lose everything that had happened to him since that backup, and those memories could be useful.  
>In the end, I opened a line to Flynn down at the power core, and had him give his input on it. With the two of us beavering away at Clu's work, it finally started to crack and gave way. Tron paused in his fight, his circuits flickering.<br>"Get back!" I commanded the others. "Don't harm him any further!"  
>Tron clutched at his head, stumbling slightly, but the circuits still continued to glow red between flickers.<br>"Restore the disk to him, Sora," Flynn called to me through the link. "It'll complete the restoration we've done."  
>"Easier said than done," I muttered, but made the attempt all the same. Tron hadn't fully shaken off Clu's influence, making if difficult to get clear without his free arm trying to stop me, but I managed eventually to get his Identity Disk back in place.<br>The circuits died out entirely, then blazed back again blue. The helmet he'd been wearing vanished, revealing it had indeed been him.  
>"Sora?" he asked uncertainly. "What happened – no, wait. I see what happened."<br>"You ought to stay here and rest," I told him. "Leave Clu to me."  
>"You'll need my help to reach him," Tron insisted. "I had something to do with the defences when he changed this place, and I designed some of the work that's been throwing you off."<br>"How'd you know about that?"  
>"I'm a security program," he shrugged. "Clu left matters of security, including his own, in my hands. I was the one preventing you from finding him when you tried to access him from Cid's computer."<br>Why didn't I think of that?  
>We did pause long enough to give him time to recover, as even with a helping hand from a Cure spell he still needed it, then with Roxas's aid once more we continued through the maze of Hollow Bastion to reach the Space Paranoids equivalent of the Final Keyhole. Clu, looking for all the world identical to Flynn except for the yellow-orange circuits, waited for us there.<br>But before we had gone far enough for him to notice, Tron held me back, a finger to his lips to indicate silence.  
>"I need you to bring Flynn here," he told me quietly. "Flynn and I figured out how to delete Clu before he managed to rewrite my program."<br>I just nodded – if they had a plan, it was better than me without a plan. While I was transferring Flynn's program, I also restored power to the rest of the system, as now we had Clu cornered and without Tron allowing him to evade us, he had nowhere else to go.  
>Flynn appeared, took in the situation, then understood instantly.<br>"Leave this to us," he insisted, then he headed to face Clu.  
>"I need one of your terminals, Sora," Tron told me then. "One with root access."<br>"That's risky, Tron," I warned him. "One wrong command..."  
>"I know. But I know what I have to do. I can do it without the root access, but it'll be quicker and easier if you let me have it."<br>I trusted him, and granted him what he needed. As with me, the root access turned his blue circuits green.  
>Up on the plinth before the Final Keyhole, Clu and Flynn were in discussion with each other. We couldn't hear what was said, but it appeared to be a vehement argument. Clu did not seem to share the views of his creator, whatever they may have been.<br>Then Clu noticed me, and attempted to jump down from the platform to reach me. Tron entered a command into the terminal, and Clu bounced off a flash of green light that expanded to surround the two. We could not see within the light.  
>"What now?" Leon asked.<br>"We wait," Tron replied. "The field will nullify itself out when the requirements are met."  
>"Are you sure about this Tron?"<br>"For the last time Sora, I know what I'm doing. This was planned carefully. I have another message for you, by the way."  
>"From?"<br>"There isn't any User attached to it, and no other name either. It's an unusual message, just as strange as the first."  
>"How does it read?"<br>"Like this: 'Proof from the Dreadnought'."  
>"Interesting message. I think I understand it, but I'll have to reach that point to find out for sure." Winner's Proof, the Keyblade normally obtained from completing the Mushroom XIII minigames in Final Mix, would be obtained from clearing the Assault of the Dreadnought – if I understood this message, undoubtedly from the real Sora, correctly.<br>"Does this one have anything to do with me this time?" Tron said hopefully.  
>"I'm afraid not, my friend. But don't worry, I'm fairly certain you won't have any problems after this. Remember what I tried to stop you from doing last time?"<br>"You mean taking the MCP's place."  
>"Exactly. If you really want to do it, go ahead. It still isn't necessary, but I'd rather you controlled the system than someone else. Besides, I know you won't try to lock the Users out of it."<br>Tron didn't reply, because the green light pulsed once, then dissolved. Nothing inside remained. Tron gave a sigh.  
>"I had hoped it wouldn't come to that."<br>"What happened?" Demyx asked. "Where did they go?"  
>"They're both gone," I replied. "Flynn created Clu from himself, so the only way to remove one was to remove both. Or something like that anyway, I don't fully understand it myself. Tron, could you-"<br>"Restore the town's defences? I already did. And once you're out again, there's something else I want to broadcast to the town for you all."  
>I turned to Leon and grinned, "Remember way back when I told you that you shouldn't be remembering Hollow Bastion's real name is Radiant Garden? You can ignore that now."<br>"Remind me not to try and go on your adventures with you again," he muttered, but handed over another keychain. This one was the one for Sleeping Lion, the last Keyblade except for Ultima Weapon and the two Final Mix exclusive ones.  
>Only the Assault of the Dreadnought stood in our path to Twilight Town, and from there the World that Never Was. And it still seemed like only yesterday I had defeated the Darkside on Destiny Islands so long ago now.<p> 


	71. A Long Time Coming

Before we departed, Tron dug out the archives on Hollow Bastion, allowing everyone to recall it as it had once been and with it the true name, Radiant Garden. With the knowledge that Xigbar was going to put me back in the past, for me it was more like a sneak preview of what I'd see when I went to the original Radiant Garden. I swear once I caught sight of Ventus once during that, though I didn't see me with him. There was a strange figure in what looked like some Keyblade armour, white with gold trim to it – similar to the piece Terra had 'returned' to me. Could that have been me? And if it was, why was I wearing it while in Radiant Garden?  
>We also stopped by the Garden of Assemblage too, as Roxas had told me earlier on to stop by after my meeting with Terra. The doors there were now almost universally blue except for the green ones that signified the three Nobodies on our side, but Xigbar's door and the second unmarked one remained red. These two evidently weren't going to be available for a time yet, but at least we knew why Xigbar's remained unavailable.<br>This visit was not exactly to challenge any of the other Nobodies though, but for Roxas to stock up on their various weapons. I did get in a few practice rounds with Saïx and Luxord though, knowing I'd come up against both in the World that Never Was.  
>Then we finally left, only to have the little chipmunks at the Disney Castle call us to point out three things – the World that Never Was had become fully detectable, right where I'd marked it way back when Yen Sid had returned the Gummi Ship, the Simulated Twilight Town showing up on the same site as the real one but inaccessible except through the real Twilight Town, and of course, the Assault of the Dreadnought barring our path.<br>That route was one of the more challenging ones I had to open, though in truth it was already open, just blocked off by what I suspect were actually the Organization's own attempts at Gummi Ships. They looked more like mobile fortresses than useful ships, but I guess they were more designed to oppose us than fly around.  
>It may have been a challenge, but the upgrades made earlier on made it considerably easier, and allowed us to take a bit more damage than the original design could have. Not that I wanted it to get damaged, but sometimes there was little choice.<br>I know, that's not much detail. Give me a break, this is getting into much more recent events, and I don't really remember too much about it. I was concentrating on flying while the others shot at it, just as we always had before.  
>True to Tron's message, when we arrived in Twilight Town the chain for Winner's Proof was available to me. Fatal Crest had been working for me for most of my time in this adventure, but the additional boosts Winner's Proof gave me made it the first and only Keyblade to replace it.<br>Twilight Town appeared to be uninhabited – or at the very least, everyone was in hiding. Nobodies were in abundance however, though thanks to advance preparations by Roxas, they gave us little trouble. He'd had his Samurais arrive ahead of us, and they fended off all but the strongest Nobodies the Organization still commanded, keeping our route as clear as possible.  
>Mickey showed up wordlessly at the old Mansion, knowing that I already knew anything he'd have to say. Riku may or may not have had him make the same promise he does in Sora's own adventure, but I saw no point in asking. I'd see Riku again soon enough.<br>Once we entered Ansem's basement of the mansion, he broke his silence.  
>"There're people going missing from the other worlds," he told me. "Important people."<br>"I know there's two missing from Agrabah. Any others?"  
>He nodded, "The Princesses, and each of your allies in every world. All except Atlantica and Space Paranoids. Someone's up to something."<br>"Roxas and I think we have an idea who and why. A while back, he caught sight of Kairi imprisoned in the Organization's stronghold, but there were others with her. He didn't get the chance to tell who they were though."  
>"Ya think the Organization is responsible?"<br>"If they are, we're on the right course to finding them. We can ask them to help us out before we restore them to their proper places."  
>"But they'll know there're other worlds out there," he pointed out.<br>"The princesses already know. Besides, there are always ways to explain it if it comes right down to it. I think a few of them might be alright knowing anyway."  
>"But Sora, what of the world order?" he protested. I'd expected this.<br>"Mickey, the worlds have been open like this for a long time – ever since Master Eraqus unlocked the Lanes Between. With the possible exception of Yen Sid, I don't think anyone knows how to lock them again, and even then there are still ways between worlds. Maybe it's time we let worlds become a little more open."  
>"That's not your call to make."<br>"Consider it advice then," I told him. "Food for thought. Which reminds me, has anyone got anything to eat? I'm feeling hungry."  
>"How can you think about food at a time like this?" Axel demanded.<br>"Simple, I'm nervous. When I'm nervous, I get hungry."  
>While we did not have Pence along to help with Ansem's computer, I was able to handle it well enough to transfer us into Twilight Town's simulated counterpart. The computer's counterpart here was also destroyed.<br>I stared at it for a few moments, then said, "Was it really necessary to do that, Roxas?"  
><em>Let's just say Axel wasn't the only one who showed up to try and take me back,<em> he told me. _I _really_ want to get a few cracks in at Saïx when we take him on, Liam.  
><em>Ever get the idea my Nobody doesn't like Saïx?  
>Certain in the knowledge I knew what was going to happen, it was no hard task to find the portal that lead to Betwixt and Between, where I warned Axel not to go suicidal – I knew we could handle the Dusks here, because well, they're Dusks, and I had more allies than Sora did. I also had Roxas on my side, and if it came down to it, Anti-Form with my darkness in, though that same darkness was the main reason I wanted to avoid it now. I wasn't certain if I could keep it under control.<br>The fight reminded me in many ways of the Battle of a thousand Heartless, as we all split up to tackle them on different fronts. As Mickey and I had Keyblades though, most of the Dusks focused on us, giving us the hardest time.  
>Axel and Goofy quickly came to his aid to support him, while Demyx as he had so many times before simply created water forms to protect Donald as he fired off magic until he too was forced to fight in close quarters.<br>As Roxas's Nobodies were tied up still in Twilight Town, I was left on my own however. On my own except for Roxas, of course. When the Dusks began threatening to overrun me, I drew back, changed my Keyblades for his two, then called on him – I can only dual wield while borrowing his power with Oathkeeper and Oblivion, remember.  
>One of the interesting side effects of this was that so long as I continued to strike the Dusks, I was able to sort of float in the air without descending, and also seemed to be able to attack just a bit quicker than usual. That effect was probably just in my head though.<br>They still gave me trouble though, and it became increasingly clear that someone was going to have to do something spectacular to finish them off though, so as my own strength began to waver I pulled out my favourite trick in the book: Magic Hour.  
>The remains of the Dusk swarm after that were easily tidied up. As it had done before, Magic Hour restored my strength, but forced me to revert out of my borrowed Roxas form. I still took a few moments to properly recover from pulling that off though. Channelling that much power isn't exactly going to be the best thing for you.<p>

Advance warning: If you're short of time, don't start reading this next bit yet - it's exceptionally long, and there was no easy way to split it up at all.

The World that Never Was. If you'd asked me way back when I first found myself in Sora's life, I'd have told you I would never have expected to get this far. I'd probably have said the same even after seeing Yen Sid in his tower.  
>But now, here I was, with two Nobodies spared and turned on their former colleagues, Roxas awake within me and ready to help us, and with the sight of the Organization's stronghold and their Kingdom Hearts looking down on me.<br>"And now I stand in noughts domain, to save the worlds once again," I murmured.  
>"Poetic," Mickey noted.<br>"I never thought I'd stand here. At least... not like this. Things turned out a little differently to how I expected."  
>"Sora," Mickey said then, tugging on my arm. "We ought to keep moving. In case they've got anyone out looking for us."<br>"They haven't. But you're right, there are things that have to happen. Let's move."  
>Oddly, while I was still nervous, I was also unusually calm. You'd think given what I was about to face it might be different, but it just didn't seem to get to me. That said... I still knew I'd have a trip into the past at some point soon as well.<br>Roxas said nothing as we headed through the same streets he had when he would have met Riku, following the same path. When we reached Memory Skyscraper though, instead of meeting Riku, we saw Roxas ahead of us, in his Organization coat, with the hood up.  
>No Nobodies appeared at all, my view just became fuzzy for a moment, then cleared to one of the stations of Awakening. Identical to the one Roxas and Sora meet on, except for me there was an additional ring, separate from the main station, upon which my friends and allies stood. Roxas and I of course stood opposite each other.<br>"It's been a long time coming, hasn't it?" Roxas asked me, shaking back the hood of the coat.  
>I nodded, "I knew we'd come to this sooner or later. Would you mind?"<br>"Oh, you mean... yeah, go ahead. I'll wait."  
>I moved to the edge of the station then, though keeping an eye on Roxas. Not that I didn't trust him, but I knew he had been created in part from me, and that if I were him I wouldn't pass up a sneak attack against an opponent of equal, if not greater strength to me.<br>"Sora, what's going on?" Mickey demanded of me.  
>"Relax. We'll be back where we were as soon as we're done here. I'm guessing you're here because Roxas wanted you to know and see what's going on."<br>"Yeah, but what _is_ going on?" Axel asked.  
>"Simple – every other member of the Organization has, at some point, clashed with me – except him."<br>"And me!" Demyx added.  
>"Ah, but you did steal the Olympus Stone, and keep us from it. I had to face you to get it back, even if I didn't fight you to get at it. Roxas is the only one left I've never once fought with, and here – well, there I guess – in front of Memory Skyscraper... he has the chance to change that."<br>"You're forgetting to tell them it's also a chance to see if I'm better than you," Roxas called.  
>"Excuse me a moment," I said to them, then turned back to Roxas, grinning. "You, better than me? Hope you're ready to back that up!"<br>"You know, this is going to be interesting," Roxas said. "You and I both know each other – we're that much alike we can hardly not. But I can still see the future, not on demand, but maybe it'll still work for me, give me a bit of an edge over you."  
>"Oh yeah? Why don't we put that to the test then?"<br>Roxas naturally took out Oathkeeper and Oblivion. I had expected to be limited to just one Keyblade, but found that I could take up both. This was going to be interesting indeed; the two of us both with two Keyblades.  
>This would be more a battle of wits than it was a true fight, because as Roxas had said, we were so much alike there were few, if any strengths one of us had over the other. But for the moment at least we remained just as predictable to each other, starting off by testing each other's defences, trying out attacking and defending against two Keyblades.<br>Like me, he had trouble at first when trying to handle both, but also like me he picked it up quickly and before long there was just the sound of Keyblade on Keyblade ringing out.  
>Then I started the real fight, dismissing one Keyblade as I stepped back to avoid an attack that I could otherwise have easily blocked. Roxas didn't expect this though, and so when I brought back my missing Keyblade he was left open enough for me to land the real first strike. There wasn't any chance for a second though, because he reacted quick enough to return the favour, taking advantage of an opening I'd left when I made that strike.<br>We drew back from each other then and began throwing magic at each other, countering one spell with a differing one. Blizzard counters Fire, Thunder conducted through the resulting water, but returned by Reflect, only to have the return spell drawn off course by Magnet. We both knew exactly how to counter each volley, and after a few repeats of this, it too was dropped.  
>Now Roxas pulled out his next trick. He'd been collecting the Organization's weapons for me to use via my Drive forms, but he'd neglected to tell me he was also saving them for this. Oathkeeper and Oblivion vanished, replaced by Marluxia's scythe, Graceful Dahlia.<br>Roxas knew how to wield this weapon far more effectively than I ever had, making a series of wide swings and slashes with it that left him far beyond my reach, then when he closed in on me he became a veritable tornado of attacks, spinning around in what must have looked more like a pink and black blur. I wouldn't know, since I stopped looking at that point and concentrated on getting out of his way.  
>He couldn't turn or change direction easily like this, and that gave me the edge and chance I needed. Stop magic, as it always had on the more powerful opponents, merely slowed him down. As he was busy with that spinning attack, bearing down on me, he had no chance to counter it, and the blur headed for me suddenly became very clear. A look of surprise slowly grew over Roxas's face as I quickly moved in to get in more than a few devastating attacks that kept him busy even after the slow effect had gone.<br>Roxas finally managed to block one Keyblade, then the other and extricate himself from my own attacks, having lost this part of the battle. Like me though, he was still up for more, and once more discarded his weapon for a new one. This time it was not easily apparent what he'd chosen to replace it, until I noticed concealed within the folds between each finger were the knives Larxene used most often, the Foudre knives.  
>This one was going to be more of a challenge, and he and I both knew it. He had to get close enough to me to actually get me with them, while I had to find a way to disarm him. How was I going to do this?<br>Then I realized; in bringing the others into here with him, he'd inadvertently given me complete access to all my Drive forms. I pulled Wisdom form on him, once more catching him unawares. Evidently my guess had been right; he hadn't thought of this.  
>With Wisdom form I was able to easily evade his attempts to reach me and send more than enough magic at him to keep him busy. I re-used the same tactic I'd used when going against him and Xion, freezing portions of the floor to make him slip and slide around, only making it even more difficult for him.<br>After a few more abortive attempts to reach me and not a single blow landed, he discarded the knives with an irritated snarl, this time replacing them with a flurry of cards that flew from his hands. Luxord's signature weapon, if it can be called that, the Fair Game deck of cards.  
>These cards not only barred my path, they hid him from my view. But he wouldn't be able to use the cards to sneak up behind me, not if I remained wary of where the cards were, and if they started to head around behind me I'd know he was behind them.<br>Roxas anticipated this assumption of mine however, having he cards spread in both directions. I kept watch on both until they were both behind me, then felt something hit me hard in the back. Roxas hadn't gone with them at all, he'd stayed behind me while I watched the cards and attacked me from behind.  
>To make it worse, each time I attempted to counter this strategy, he simply picked a different card to come out from that was always behind me. I was losing this fight because of bits of paper!<br>Paper – that was the key. I was still in Wisdom form, though I knew I was running out of time. I sent Winner's Proof flying into the air, willing it to point downwards at me, then commanded it to put out Firaga, aimed directly at me.  
>That hurt, and as soon as it passed I quickly used a Curaga on myself immediately afterwards, but the explosion of fire that burst out from the impact of Firaga eliminated all the cards around me, revealing Roxas, once more surprised. I doubt he'd expected me to try a trick like that on him.<br>Luxord's cards were discarded as I headed for him in an attempt to reach him before he called the next weapon, but I wasn't able to stop him. Saïx's massive claymore, Lunatic, appeared in his hand allowing him to easily fend off my attacks.  
>But he didn't share Saïx's ability to hold the blade in one hand, and it was clearly obvious fighting with a two-handed weapon was not Roxas's forte. It was likely not mine either, since I doubt I would have been able to use the weapon all that well myself either.<br>Roxas was also slowed by the weight of Lunatic though, making him slow and easy to attack. But he had a trick up his sleeves that I hadn't expected. He just took every strike I made in his stride, then without warning he reversed his grip on the blade and charged me, slamming it down in the same way Saïx does when he goes berserk.  
>He lacked the power and coordination Saïx can put behind it though, and once more it was an easy matter to evade it. A few attacks made proved that he would shrug off any attacks I made while he was in that state.<br>After only that one berserk attack, he realized he'd had no effect on me in the slightest, so went for the next weapon in his arsenal, the Book of Retribution. The power of illusion that he and I had used to great effect before was now turned on me instead. As expected, he disappeared with the first spell cast from it, and with the second a multitude of copies of the book appeared around me. To further confuse the issue, the platform itself seemed to disappear.  
>This would have been a problem, not knowing where it lay, but once more he'd neglected the others and the viewing ring he'd created for them. I was able to use that to judge where the edges of the platform were and avoid falling off.<br>The illusory books on the other hand were not so easy to deal with. Each of them fired off a different spell at me when hit, some of them beneficial such as Cure, but most of them were attack magic. This would have been partly helpful if I'd been able to spare those beneficial ones, but Roxas naturally had prepared for that. I had to hit a book to make it cast the spell, and the ones that helped could only withstand one hit.  
>Then I realised, I didn't need to deal with these illusions at all. They only attacked me by their spells, and then only when I struck them. So I stopped and listened intently, while appearing as if trying to decide which one to hit next.<br>Several more books appeared, but not before I'd heard the tell-tale sound of the real book's page rustling. Illusions work on sight, not sound, so he had no way to mask it. I made full use of that, homing in on the sounds to strike at my unseen foe.  
>Roxas really did not like this. So far I'd managed to counter everything he'd thrown at me, even with a bit of trouble for some of them, and he was running out of weapons to challenge me with. Skysplitter came next against me, easily one of the most dangerous weapons he had to face me with. Unlike Lunatic, this he could wield much more readily, and he was not slowed nor impeded by it in any way. I was forced to start giving up ground continually as he lay out strike after strike, easily deflecting my Keyblades as if they weren't even there.<br>I knew I couldn't keep that up forever. With the Book of Retribution gone the same way as each of the other failed attempts to defeat me his illusions had vanished, so I could see the platform again, along with the edge I was rapidly coming up against.  
>I needed something that could counter this power, something I didn't normally have. Two options beckoned. Valor form focused on power, but it would be useless so long as Skysplitter could just brush my Keyblades aside before they even reached him. The other option was not so appealing, but I didn't see much choice. Even Roxas was surprised to see Anti-Form suddenly facing him.<br>As had always happened with this form, I thought much more simply, which was not exactly the best thing to have on my side, and I could hear the darkness whispering yet again. It was always there now in this form.  
>But I resolved not to use it unless necessary, at first drawing on the sheer speed and ferocity of the attacks I could put out in this form. I took several blows from Skysplitter of course, I couldn't avoid everything, but I managed to hold my own and I think at least match him for the amount of damage he dealt out, if not return more than he gave out.<br>He attempted to stop me from doing too much more with Vexen's signature shield, Frozen Pride, and indeed it did have an effect, I could feel the chill in it sharply every time I came into contact with it, but even with it he was unable to properly defend against all the attacks, and this too was discarded in favour of one of his last two options.  
>Xaldin's lances, the Lindworm lances appeared, four around him one in each hand. As Xaldin would have been able to had I left him alive longer than I had, Roxas was able to hover in the air easily. With six lances and his ability to hover and move around our private battlefield at great speeds, now it was me having trouble reaching him.<br>One of the annoyances of Anti-Form is that I cannot cancel it; it has to run out of it's own accord. I was stuck with this for now, and I needed some way of handling Roxas and the Lindworms. If it hadn't been for that basic level of thinking Anti-Form forced on me, I would have hesitated before using the darkness it also gave me.  
>Roxas was once again taken by surprise, knowing my reluctance even to use this form since he'd made the darkness available to me through it. But he was able to hold me off at first, countering the basic uses of the darkness that I had. I was inexperienced with it, and was only just beginning to use it for the first times here, I had no idea exactly how to use it. But as some will tell you, the worst thing you can come up against is someone who has no idea how to use the weapons at his disposal, because you have no idea what they'll do with them.<br>As it was, I had stifled my creativity by entering this form, and was unable to come up with any advanced ways of using it however, but Roxas didn't appear to know this. I forced it to allow me the use of one Keyblade while in this form, as Anti-Form normally disallowed any of them, then I stole a trick out of Riku's book: Dark Aura.  
>Coming up against it is one thing. Seeing it performed first hand as I had before is another, but seeing it as you do it yourself is like nothing else. I can't even begin to describe it, because there just is no way to. The best I can come up with is that you see the world through a kind of bubble that appears where you want it, allows you to leave, strike your opponent at speed, then return to it again, and even that is a horrible explanation as far as I'm concerned.<br>But it had the effect I wanted, disarming Roxas just in time to see the end of Anti-Form. I felt exhausted after using that form, but couldn't let my guard down, I knew Roxas still had energy to spare and one more weapon before he fell back on his Keyblades, unless he began to re-use them.  
>He didn't. Interdiction, Xemnas's Ethereal Blades, came to each of his hands, and we finished as we'd started, battering away at each other. The only difference was that he had these Ethereal Blades to my Keyblades, instead of us both wielding them.<br>Something else occurred to me at that point. Roxas had been using Zexion's illusions, and I knew they took up a lot of magic power just to create, let alone maintain. Aside from our magic volley earlier on, the only uses I had done were the earlier Firaga and following Curaga – my magic tank was full by now, and ready to be unleashed again, where Roxas's would still be recovering from that immense drain on his own.  
>So rather than try to continue fighting him off with a growing tiredness, I hit him full in the chest with Blizzaga, freezing him to the spot and making him a sitting duck when Thundaga came sparking down to shatter the ice. If the chunks that came flying my way were any indication, that had to have hurt.<br>He came at me again, but I held him in place with Graviga. Normally I avoided using the higher power versions of spells unless it became necessary, but I had the magic available to me to afford it, and with Roxas now also starting to show signs of weariness I wanted the most out of my magic.  
>This gave me the chance to attack him a few more times to build up my magic for what I hoped would be the final three attacks I made, then as Graviga finished I started that combo.<br>Aeroga sent him flying high into the air, and a quickly followed Firaga launched after him struck true before he began his descent. Then with the last of my power for my Drive forms, I used Limit Form, and an ability I'd used too often back on my first adventures, Strike Raid, not with one Keyblade but with both. When the final strikes of each, Judgement, had both landed, Roxas seemed to just drop out of his dive, crashing to the platform. Xemnas's Ethereal Blades vanished from his hands as he pushed himself up, groaning.  
>I remained armed, just in case he still had anything left, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and waited, where if he'd really been an enemy I would have ensured the job was really done. I needn't have worried though.<br>"Enough already," he laughed weakly. "I should have known you were outta my league. That's why I tried to use their weapons against you, but you even managed to counter all of them. You," he said, pointing at me as he finally got back to his feet. "Are one tough opponent. And anyone who has to face you should be more than a little afraid."  
>"Shame none of the remaining Nobodies can be afraid then, huh?" I replied.<br>"Point. But I don't think you've got anything to worry about. With all your capabilities and creativity... I don't think there's anyone here you can't face. You definitely make a good other," he added as the view started to fade back to Memory Skyscraper. My strength seemed to come back to me with it, as strictly speaking, none of it had actually happened.  
>I checked the pocket I kept the chains for the Keyblade in, and found that he'd left me the one for the last Keyblade I had to collect myself, Two Become One. No doubt the Moogles would be showing up with Ultima Weapon again before long.<br>_Don't forget Final Form,_ Roxas murmured to me as we started past Memory Skyscraper.


	72. Back to the Beginning

When we reached the edge of the massive pit that looks to me like it used to be where the castle had once been until it had been ripped out of the ground, there was no immediate path forwards. Evidently Naminé had not yet helped Kairi try to escape, though with the others that we now suspected to be with her, would things still happen the same way?  
>"Surely there's some way to get in," Mickey muttered.<br>"Patience," I replied. "Things will happen when they happen."  
>"I'm not good at waiting when we're in the enemy's stronghold, Sora."<br>Who would be?  
>But on cue, the signature light showed up roughly where I'd expected it to be.<br>"That's our cue," I told Mickey, unlocking the pathway up and into the castle itself. "Don't go running off," I added. "I know you suspect there's a certain someone here, but we'll meet him in due course anyway. He'll be fine until we catch up with him; until then I'm going to need you."  
>"What can I do that you can't?"<br>"Lead a second party," I replied as we entered Nothing's Call. "I want you and Goofy to go with Demyx. Demyx, show them the way to where Kairi is probably being held. Between the three of you, you should be able to handle anything that comes up. If Kairi's not there, just free whoever you can – it could be the missing people from other worlds, and we can use their help. Meet up with us in the Hall of Empty Melodies."  
>"It's almost like you've been here before," Axel remarked as the trio left us. "Enough to know what we called the different areas."<br>"You're forgetting two things," I replied. "Roxas has been here, and we both get to see things. In a way it's like actually having been here. Stay sharp; I wouldn't put it past Saïx to have put something in our path."  
>"Or Xigbar either," Donald reminded me.<br>The path ahead was littered with varying Nobodies, though mostly two of the more troublesome ones, Berserkers and Sorcerers. With our party halved out of what I deemed necessity, they took longer to handle than usual. Several times I dipped into various forms to handle them, giving Final Form it's first use among them. Much like Master form, but considerably more powerful – and even more so were I given the chance to use all four of my allies, rather than just the two present.  
>Anti-form also saw much use as the Nobodies grew thicker, simply because of the sheer power I could put behind it. Risky, but Roxas told me he was fairly certain I shouldn't have any side effects from it. I didn't share his confidence though, just in case he turned out to be wrong.<br>As we headed up Twilight's View, the first of the freed allies began to catch up with us, lead by none other than the inestimable Captain Jack Sparrow, closely followed by Aladdin and interestingly, Yuffie.  
>"A certain King Mickey sent us your way, mate," Jack called to us. "Seems it's my turn to get you out of trouble this time, eh?"<br>"Glad to have you with us again, Captain. What happened to Mickey?"  
>"The King said we should go on ahead while they freed the others," Yuffie answered. "One of your friends was with him, he provided us with directions."<br>"We should have followed my directions," Aladdin grumbled. "We'd have gotten here much quicker."  
>"And yet my compass pointed us in the same direction the lady was taking us," Jack pointed out.<br>"Do we really have to have them along?" Axel murmured to me.  
>"Yes. Come on, we've got more Nobodies to handle – the white creatures, before anyone asks."<br>With three more allies to help out, progress was quicker. But either someone was actively trying to stop us, or the Nobodies were starting to rally against us on their own, slowing us again. At this rate, Mickey, Goofy and Demyx would get back with all the others before we reached the Hall of Empty Melodies.  
>When we paused once more after clearing ourselves a relatively safe area, Auron lead Mulan, Beast and Belle through the cleared areas, fending off the occasional Nobody that got in the way.<br>"Did someone call for reinforcements?" Auron asked when he joined us.  
>"The more the merrier," I answered.<br>"Sora, I have to warn you," Belle told me. "Kairi said she saw someone you knew named Naminé, and this Naminé said to watch out when you get to the hall ahead."  
>"Why, what's going to happen there?"<br>"I don't know. That was all she told me."  
>Either she didn't know I was expecting Xigbar to put his own plan in place, or this was something else. Either way, caution was definitely in order, so once we were ready we pushed on ahead once more. This time we managed to reach the entrance to the Hall itself.<br>I cautiously nudged the door open to glance in. The upper floor of it was currently deserted entirely, not even any sign of Saïx or Xigbar. But right opposite this door, guarding the way out of the Hall was someone I could not fail to recognise.  
>"Axel. Come here and tell me if you see what I see."<br>I stepped clear for him to look in.  
>"That can't be-" he broke off, surprised and looking to me. "It- he... looks just like you."<br>"Remember what you suggested? Xigbar would try to make me face myself... looks like this is how."  
>"Or someone's playing some strange games," he said doubtfully. "What now?"<br>"What else?" I shrugged. "Only one way forward."  
>"What if it attacks you?"<br>"Then it's outnumbered. Enough with the what-ifs, let's just move before I change my mind."  
>The Replica of me did not react as we entered. While it appeared identical to me as I was right now, the eyes were closed, and the hands resting on a Kingdom Key, in turn resting on the ground in front of it.<br>"You know, if one of us approached it right, we could push it into one of them pits," Jack murmured to me.  
>"Tempting, but I don't think you'd get close enough," I replied.<br>"Good guess, for someone who's not even meant to be here," Xigbar called down, not yet in sight."  
>"Speak for yourself, Nobody. You're not even meant to exist."<br>Now Xigbar showed himself, stepping into view on the upper ledge. "Maybe, but who cares? You've put us all in a pickle, you know that?"  
>"Naturally," I smirked. "It's what I'm meant to do."<br>"Oh yeah? We'll see about what you're meant to do and not meant to do. Let's see what your morals are _really_ made of, kid."  
>"Get clear," I muttered sharply. "This isn't meant for anyone but me."<br>"But Sora," Axel began.  
>"Now!" I cut him off.<br>Xigbar had not pulled out his usual arrowguns, but instead a strange device that looked more like a miniature cannon. Whatever was in the barrel was causing the entire thing to glow.  
><em>Watch out Liam,<em> Roxas warned me. _If that's what I think it is-  
><em>Then I lost the sound of his voice as Xigbar shot it at me. It moved that quickly that there wasn't any chance to escape it. Worse still, I lost the sense of Roxas's presence too. He'd just... gone.  
>With this I lost sight of everything, the surrounds just becoming a bright white, accompanied by a rushing roar that blocked out any sound as I felt like I was falling rapidly. I had a feeling I knew what was going to happen next, and more than just a feeling when I landed face first on some ground, with a mouthful of earth and grass.<br>"One of these days," I said, spitting out the unwanted mouthful, "I'm going to land on something soft. Like someone else, or... or..."  
>"Some cushions?" an unfamiliar voice suggested.<br>"That'd do too," I agreed glancing up to see a hand extended. I realised once I'd been helped to my feet that my suspicions had been correct. Roxas had shown me this. Aqua helping me out of the small patch of freshly overgrown grass, Terra standing protectively in front of Ventus, and the Land of Departure rising up in the distance. "Oh bugger," I muttered. "I guess this explained what he was up to."  
>"Explains what who was up to?" Aqua asked me.<br>"Better I don't say. You can call me Sora. I don't mean any harm to any of you." Then I thought for a moment and realized, I'd have to impart certain things to at least one person, so added, "But I do need to talk to Master Eraqus. There are things he should know."  
>"Uh... are they with you?" Ventus asked me.<br>"They?"  
>"Them," Terra answered, pointing past me.<br>Xigbar had sent Snipers and Dusks back with me, and they were heading right for me.  
>"Leave this to me," I told the three of them flatly, pulling out both Keyblades with a sense of deja vu. I'd seen all of this happen up to that point thanks to Roxas, now I was going to get to find out what came next by living it.<br>The Nobodies homed in on me naturally, but they seemed somewhat disoriented, not quite sure of themselves or how they should proceed. Once I started destroying the closest of them, it seemed to become a unanimous agreement among the Nobodies to attack me, but of course by that time this small detachment of them had already been mopped up.  
>"Two Keyblades?" Terra asked me curiously once I was done. "How did you manage that?"<br>"It's a long story, and one I probably shouldn't tell just yet. By the way Terra... if you ever come across something of mine I've lost, will you try and return it to me?"  
>"Uh... sure... but how do you know my name?"<br>"I know all of your names. It's kind of hard to explain. I think I'm gonna need a few minutes to figure things out, so don't mind me."  
>Apparently after a few moments they decided I was not a threat, and returned to their own discussions looking up at the stars.<br>I decided I was going to have to tell Eraqus some things about how I'd ended up here. For one thing, as I was temporarily stranded here without any means of transport between worlds, I was going to have to ask him to help me find some way around. If he couldn't find a way, surely he could get in touch with Yen Sid, who though he would not remember me at this time, would probably have an answer.  
>There was also a more personal activity I had in mind that I'd need to speak with him for though, something that I wanted to do while I had the chance. If he'd permit it, I could have the chance at gaining the Mark of Mastery here and now.<br>"Hey, Sora," Ventus called to me, distracting me from my thoughts. "Want Aqua to see if she can make you one of these too?" He was holding up his wayfinder.  
>I winked at him, then took out the chain for Oathkeeper, with the Thalassa shells Kairi had been stringing together on Destiny Islands.<br>"Where did you get that?" Aqua asked me.  
>"A close friend made it for me some time ago now. It's made from the same seashells you're thinking they ought to be made from. I know of the fruit you're thinking of too."<br>"They really do exist then?"  
>I nodded, "Destiny Islands, in case you're wondering."<br>"Would you mind a moment?"  
>I wasn't quite sure what she meant at first. She took the wayfinder off me for a moment, murmured something, then returned it.<br>"And that did?"  
>"The same thing I did for their wayfinders," she replied with a mysterious smile. If I was right, she'd just given me my first dimension links, for each of them.<br>"Thanks... I think."  
>"Hey, Sora," Terra called. "Aqua and I are up for the Mark of Mastery tomorrow. After how you handled those white things, I'd say you could help us train easily."<br>"Hey, don't forget me," Ven added. "I might not be taking one, but it never hurts to keep in practice, right?"  
>"He's gotta point," I agreed. "Alright, I'll let you guys take me on. But I warn ya, there's more to me than just an extra Keyblade!"<br>Actually, I wasn't as confident as I sounded. The three of them had the benefit of proper training under a real Keyblade Master, I on the other hand had to pick it up as I went along. I was hardly inexperienced by now, but even so, coming up against properly trained opponents isn't something to take lightly.  
>After a few moments to decide how they were going to do it, Terra took up the challenge first. After facing him as the Lingering Will, I was more confident I'd be able to handle him, and I wasn't proven wrong. His attacks were fairly easy to block without needing a second Keyblade this time, though he still had much of the power behind them he'd had in what to me had been that earlier battle.<br>I let him pound away to try and break through my defences, then went on the offensive. I did go easy on him, but it was soon clear he wasn't yet up to the task of taking me on and conceded defeat. He'd train with the others after they'd both taken me on.  
>Ven was second to try, and the first to give me some trouble. His backhand way of wielding his Keyblade was new to me, and not something I was entirely prepared for. That combined with the much quicker attacks he delivered made it more difficult to defend until I started to figure out his attack style, then he too started to find it hard to get through to me.<br>Like Terra, he was forced to give in after only a few attacks when I went on the offensive, and so it was just Aqua left to take me on.  
>Aqua did not bother with simply battering away with her own Keyblade, she used her magic quite skilfully, I have to admit. While she lacked the speed or power that the others had, she had a keen mind behind her that lent itself well to getting my attention with one set of spells, then while I was distracted trying to deal with or avoid them, catch me off-guard with either other spells, or her own Keyblade.<br>While I admitted I was outmatched simply defending against her attacks, when the situation was turned around and I started to attack her, she was similar troubled by the wide array of magic I could send her way. In the end, she and I agreed it was a draw between us.  
>Terra and Aqua then decided to test each other, since it was the two of them taking the exam the day after, while Ven and I watched.<br>"Y'know, I get the feeling I know you," he told me. "Like as if we've met before or something."  
>"Possible," I admitted. "But you wouldn't be the first to think of me as a friend not long after my showing up. Though usually, I don't show up so unexpectedly."<br>"Why, how d'ya normally show up?"  
>"Quietly, if I can manage it," I laughed. "Without attracting attention... so I can see what's going on when I get there and figure out what needs to be done. If anything at all."<br>"So you've been out there? To other worlds?"  
>I nodded, "Lots of them. Only in getting sent here, I've sort of lost that capability, which is annoying."<br>"I guess that's why you want to talk to the Master, right?"  
>"That and a few other things," I agreed.<br>"I know – I'll take you up to see him. Just give me a moment to let them know."  
>"We heard," Aqua said, easily avoiding one of Terra's strikes and throwing Fire back at him. "You go ahead."<p> 


	73. Exam Conditions

I like Ven's company best out of the three of them I think. He's like that ever-curious kid who doesn't quite know when to stop asking questions, right now about what the others worlds I'd been to were like. I didn't see the harm in telling him about a few of them. At least, some of the ones I knew he wouldn't be visiting anyway. I didn't want to take the novelty of going to a new world for the first time from him by spoiling things.  
>Once we got to one of the upper rooms of the Land of Departure though, he asked me to wait for him while he let Master Eraqus know about me – fair enough I guess, he was still one of Eraqus's apprentices.<br>While he was doing that, I quickly searched myself to see if there was anything else I'd lost in coming here. I already knew I was missing Roxas, and after growing used to his company that wasn't so easy to get used to again. I still seemed to have my collection of chains for the Keyblades though, my Drive forms – though I could not activate any but Limit and Anti forms here without my friends – my magic... in fact, everything appeared to be with me still.  
>Except the book. Not only had I lost Roxas, but I'd lost my means of reaching Sora, and that was really troubling. This time I was well and truly on my own.<br>Before I got the chance to reason out how and why the two of them were gone now, Ven returned and told me to go on in, an that Eraqus had asked him to wait out here for us to finish.  
>Now, it was fairly late already when I ended up in the Land of Departure, so I can only assume that either Eraqus stays up late himself, or doesn't need long to get up. He didn't look to me like he even needed to sleep actually.<br>"Sora," he greeted me with a nod.  
>"Master Eraqus. Sorry to bother you this late."<br>"Bother depends on what you want. Ventus tells me there is something you wish me to know?"  
>I nodded, "It's a little hard to believe, I admit. But I think you at least ought to know. For starters... I'm not exactly from these parts."<br>"Which parts are you from then?"  
>"The parts that are about ten years from now, and now you see why it's hard to believe. I got stuck back here and now because of someone else who isn't exactly on the best terms with me, and has been trying to get rid of me."<br>"Is that one here as well?"  
>"I don't know yet. I'd certainly like to think he is, because then I get make him get me back again, otherwise I'm going to have to stick around for a long while. But the problem is, now I'm here I don't have any means of travelling between worlds any more. My usual means ah... I don't think exists yet actually, and I'm not the kind of person that can just sit around and wait for him to come to me."<br>"I may be able to offer a solution to that, at least. But I will have to discuss it with... others."  
>"You mean Yen Sid. He and I have met before. Or at least I have anyway, he hasn't yet."<br>"You say you come from the future Sora. How much of what you know are you willing to divulge?"  
>"No more than is necessary, Master Eraqus – I don't want to risk changing something that for me at least, has already happened. I already know from experience that changing the wrong things can lea to unwanted and unexpected results."<br>"A wise answer. Very well – I will speak with Yen Sid and see what may be done. Is there anything else you wish to impart?"  
>"I've... got a bit of a personal request for you, if you wouldn't mind. Terra and Aqua are taking their Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow, I... wondered if I might join them."<br>Eraqus seemed to consider this for some time before finally answering.  
>"Ventus did tell me you already had a Keyblade, and handled yourself as if you knew how to use it. Though he seems quite impressionable, he also said something of wielding two Keyblades, something I have never before..." he broke off. I found quite often when someone questioned that ability of mine, simply calling them both to hand neatly solved things.<br>"It's something I've been able to do for a while now. I can explain it, but not without revealing certain things I don't think I should."  
>"Unexpected," he noted, definitely surprised. "And certainly unique. I make no guarantees," he warned me. "But I will certainly speak with Yen Sid before the exam tomorrow, and see what counsel he can give before I decide."<br>Not exactly the concrete answer I'd been expecting, but at least he appeared willing to consider it. Between Eraqus and Yen Sid, I hoped they'd be able to find me some way of getting around, though whether it'd get to me before the others all left or not was another matter.  
>That in itself bothered me a little. Several times we'd found signs that suggested I'd shown up alongside Ventus, and when Tron had dug out the Radiant Garden images I was certain I'd spotted someone who could have been me, in some Keyblade armour, right with him.<br>That offered some suggestion as to how I'd get around – a Glider, like each of his apprentices had – but not what would happen in the intervening time, which of them I'd run into, let alone where and in what order.  
>My own knowledge of their three storylines here is somewhat unreliable at best as it is, so I couldn't exactly rely on my outside knowledge to help get me through this one. No knowledge, no Roxas, no book... this one was going to be a bit more of a challenge, at first glance.<p>

Once Eraqus and I had finished our discussions, I met up with Ven outside again, who showed me to one of the spare rooms that was around. After everything that had happened, I'm hardly surprised it didn't take long to sink into sleep. Next thing I remember was being shaken awake by Terra.  
>"C'mon, you're gonna miss the exam," he was telling me. "You can't miss it any more than I can."<br>"Huh?" I guess Roxas had been right – I do tend to take a bit longer to get up. Sometimes.  
>"Didn't the Master tell you last night? You're taking it with us." That got my immediate attention, hitting awake much quicker.<br>"How long we got?"  
>"About as long as it takes for you and me to get down there. Ven and Aqua are already on the way. We're not late yet, but if you take any longer..."<br>"As if I'd take long," I muttered, quickly gathering my things together. Which didn't take long, I don't really carry too much really, and hadn't left them too scattered around. I might not be the tidiest person, but at least I know where I can lay my hands on things.  
>I would have offered to give Terra a race down to the hall where the exam would take place, but not knowing the layout of this castle so well meant that either I'd have gotten lost, or he'd have got there before me for certain. It doesn't really make sense to offer a race you know you can't win.<br>Eraqus was already there when we arrived, in discussion with someone I recognised easily – Master Xehanort. I'm sure it's not just me that got a chill down the back when he glanced briefly at me. He seemed more interested in surreptitiously watching Ventus though.  
>"Did Terra tell you?" Aqua asked, not concerned with any actual greeting as such.<br>"Yeah, it's sorta why I fell out of bed quicker than usual."  
>"Wish I was taking it too," Ven complained.<br>"Hey, don't worry. You'll get your chance too, you know," Terra reminded him reassuringly. I said nothing, knowing that even with my presence here, it was unlikely that chance would arise.  
>There wasn't much of a chance to continue anyway, as Xehanort took his seat, prompting Ventus to move clear and the three of us to stand to attention nearby. Well, I say three of us – I of course still didn't really hold with that, so fell back to the same arms crossed stance I'd used before.<br>Eraqus gave each of us a cursory glance to ensure we were ready, then he began.  
>"Today, you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Not one or two, but three of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates, but this is neither a competition or a battle for supremacy. Not a test of wills, but of the hearts. All of you may prevail, or none. But I am sure our guest, Master Xehanort, did not travel all this way to see our youngest and most promising prospects in many years fall short of the Mark. I trust you are ready."<br>I was tempted to make a sly comment, but though better of it, so just agreed with the others.  
>"Then let us begin," Eraqus concluded simply, raising his own Keyblade to create several orbs of light. Terra and Aqua summoned their Keyblades, I only turned part way to watch. Just enough that I could see Xehanort make a curious gesture with one hand, adding darkness to the orbs so they began to move of their own accord, one even heading for Ventus.<br>Now in the moment of shared surprise, I summoned both of mine, adding Xehanort to the numbers of the surprised present. I intercepted the one heading for Ven, tossing it up into the air, then as it came down, smashing it toward Terra, who destroyed it.  
>"Anyone else for a game of tennis?" I asked them casually, then set about going after the rest. It was oddly like a tennis match sometimes, with each of us sending various orbs flying between each other. Some were easier to handle by magic, others by Keyblade alone, so those that were better dealt with by another of us were passed around as necessary. I tried for both, but relying heavily on my magic left me short of power to give it after a time, and so Aqua had to fill in for us both in that arc.<br>Through it all, I did my best to stop them from reaching Ven – not because I thought he couldn't handle them, but because I felt it better he knew now that I'd do the same as Terra and Aqua when it came to anything threatening him. More probably, as if I couldn't protect him I'd fight alongside him. A few did reach him though, but he quickly sent them flying back into the mass the rest of us were tossing around.  
>The last orb was even more erratic than each of the others, and was finally cornered simply by the three of us converging on it from different directions. When all four Keyblades struck it, it vanished – hardly surprising, really.<br>"That was... unexpected," Eraqus remarked. "But one must keep a still heart even in the most trying times. An excellent test therefore, and one I chose to let unfold. And so on to your next trial. Terra, Aqua," he nodded to each. I felt a slight distaste for this. Why wasn't I going to be involved? But then he went on, "The two of you will join forces now, to take on Sora. And Sora..."  
>"You don't need to say anything," I grinned back, then looked slyly to Terra and Aqua. "I can beat you guys any day."<br>"This is not a battle for victory," Eraqus reminded me reprovingly. "This is a battle of truths, revealed by equal powers clashing. Now, prepare yourselves!"  
>An unexpected difference, but not one I was about to turn up. This time I wasn't just helping them train either, so there was no need for me to worry about Aqua either. While she'd come at me with the same magic that'd troubled me before, this time I knew what she could do, and I'd counter-attack at the same time.<br>The two of them predictably used the same tactics they had when I'd been training with them the night before, and I quickly came up with a solution to this. Aqua always seemed to cast her spells in combination with each other, and interrupting any one of them also seemed to disrupt any remaining spells in that chain. So for me to cast Reflect just after she started the first of hers meant that she had to finish the chain of spells unless I broke it for her, and that only sent her spells back at her.  
>Terra meanwhile kept me busy in the physical department with heavy hits, but he had picked up a few ideas since last night and taken a leaf from Ven's book, giving up just a bit of that heavy handedness for some slightly swifter attacks. They took me off guard at first, but as I started to grow more adept at countering the combined assault, they both began to have trouble.<br>Not long after, when I sent Terra flying clear with Aero, I noticed his hand briefly become engulfed in darkness – at the same time, I felt my own darkness flare up similarly, freed from the constraints it had been given by Roxas taking it off my hands. I kept mine in check enough to prevent it from showing though. A chance glance over at Xehanort showed he was watching with interest. Whether he was also the cause of the sudden flare in both Terra's and my own darkness was uncertain though.  
>Now the duo came up with a new series of tactics to combat my own. Terra waited just out of reach of me as Aqua started to cast her chain of spells, then as I started to cast Reflect he swiftly came in and disrupted that, leaving me vulnerable to the magical assault as he kept my attention on him so I couldn't break Aqua's chain this time.<br>I wasn't completely unable to handle this development though, and managed to work Terra into a position where he unwillingly took the first two spells for me, while the third I hit hard with Winner's Proof to sent back at her. I didn't need Reflect up just to keep myself safe from magic, that much I'd learned before now.  
>This went on several more times, trying to stop my Reflect before it got in the way of Aqua's magic, and when I did manage to get it up successfully, Terra broke the chain for her. I imagine neither of them liked that he had to attack her even once just to do that, but it at least conserved her magic.<br>But once she was out of magic, it was down to just Keyblades. I still had some of my own left, but I was saving it in case I needed it.  
>The two of them tried to double team me, coming at me from either side. I could probably have handled them if they'd been closer together, rather than practically opposite each other, but I already had a solution. I let them come in close, then before they struck I cast Stop – which of course, turned to Slow on them, but even so allowed me to get clear and deliver a series of attacks on both of them before the effect faded.<br>Terra's fist burned with darkness again after that, though interestingly this time, my darkness remained quelled. Perhaps Xehanort had been responsible the first time, and had decided that after seeing no reaction from me, he'd focus his efforts on Terra instead.  
>I managed two more casts of Stop before I too ran out of magic and had to try and keep myself in a position to defend against the both of them without getting out of position, which really wasn't easy. They're smarter than most opponents I'd come up against before now, so my repertoire of battle tactics for these kinds of situations was severely lacking.<br>Fortunately for me, after they managed to corner me and force me into fighting them, Eraqus called an end to our sparring, asking us to wait while he and Xehanort conferred.  
>"Now that was a good fight," I breathed after the various Keyblades were dismissed. "You two together are more of a challenge than I thought."<br>"Speak for yourself," Aqua replied. "You're a tough nut too, you know."  
>"More than just a tough one," Terra agreed. "You're more than a match by yourself."<br>"Aw, c'mon, stop that! I'm not that good," I protested. "I mean, you've had all that training under Eraqus – I never had anything like that."  
>"Then where'd you learn to fight like that?" Aqua asked.<br>"I guess I sorta picked it up as I went along. I usually muddle through somehow like that."  
>"Hush," Terra murmured. "It looks like we'll be hearing their verdict any moment now."<br>That only made me feel nervous again as we took up our original positions, waiting to hear from them. Had I made the Mark?


	74. Armour and another Keyblade

Terra's warning that we should expect to hear back from the two Keyblade Masters was a little early, as the two continued to deliberate for some time afterwards. Several times I thought I caught snippets of their quiet discussions, and I'm sure in many of them it was Xehanort asking about me. What Eraqus might have told him, I didn't know.  
>But when they finished and Eraqus stood in front of us again, there was no indication from either of them of what the results were.<br>"We have deliberated, and reached a decision," he announced at last. "While you have all performed commendably, only Terra has failed to meet the Mark. You failed to keep your darkness sufficiently in check – but there is always next time."  
>I barely noticed the rest after hearing that. Now I really was a Keyblade Master, rather than just being called one.<br>Eraqus got my attention again immediately though.  
>"Sora, Aqua. As our newest Masters, you are both entitled to certain knowledge. Please, remain here and await further instruction."<br>"With respect Master Eraqus," I said. "I already know what you'd have to tell me. Would you excuse me instead?"  
>"Of course. But you are welcome to remain behind – to refresh what you know. I also need to speak with you later on," he added. Probably about whatever Yen Sid had discussed with him.<br>Xehanort had left after the results had been announced, and one of the few things I did know would happen should be going on – him talking with Vanitas. I wanted to see if I could get to him before he got to Ventus if I could, and went after where I thought he should be.  
>Just as I left the hall we'd taken the exam in, Terra left, followed not long after by Ventus.<br>I must have just missed Vanitas, who it seemed also knew this place better than I did. When I finally found my way back to Ven's room, I caught a part of their own conversation, with Vanitas remarking that by the time he caught up, Terra would be different.  
>I was trying to keep just out of sight while I observed them, but I think Vanitas noticed me. It's hard to say with that odd mask he wears concealing his face. I didn't see any point in intruding on them, not since Ven was about to go after Terra, and Vanitas... well, who knows where he went.<br>As it happened, I did. Or I would not long after. As I headed back up toward the hall, he fell into step beside me.  
>"So you're this mysterious Sora that no one knows anything about," he remarked.<br>"And you're Vanitas," I replied, not looking over. He corrected my pronunciation of his name, to which I merely brushed it aside with, "Close enough."  
>"There's something about you," he went on, ignoring that. "Almost like there's some of Ventus in you."<br>"In a way, you're right."  
>After a few moments he said, "Is that all you're going to say?"<br>"Why should I divulge every little secret to you?" I asked him slyly. "This way you get all the fun of finding out for yourself."  
>"I get the feeling you're hiding something," he said then, letting that pass. "You've got plans of your own."<br>"I'd go with that feeling if I were you."  
>"Maybe we could work-" I cut him off, looking over to him with a Keyblade just a tiny distance from him.<br>"I know what you're trying to do," I told him flatly. "I know how it'll end. I don't know the full details, but I don't really need to. I don't like you, I don't trust you, and I don't intend to just let you do it."  
>"You should watch who you point those things at," Vanitas replied, then disappeared into the darkness. Maybe I'd made an impression on him, maybe not. But it appeared at least that he knew it was pointless trying to win me over to his cause.<br>I wasn't far from the hall now, or at least so I guessed if I'd recalled my route correctly. I didn't reach it though, because Eraqus and Aqua came running out heading for the front gates. Terra must have just left, which meant Ventus wasn't far behind, so I went after them.  
>Sure enough, I caught sight of the tail end of Ven's own Glider just as it headed into the Lanes Between.<br>"Ven, wait!" Aqua called after him, but too late.  
>"He must not leave!" Eraqus cried out in chagrin, though he too knew it was too late to stop him. "Aqua, you must bring him back!"<br>"Leave it to me," she replied, then she too had called her own Glider and was gone. I was starting to feel a little left out here, the three of them had left and I was still held back without any way of going after them.  
>"Sora..." Eraqus began uncertainly. I shook my head though.<br>"I can't tell you. Firstly because I have a bit of a vague idea of what happens next, and secondly..."  
>"You can't change what's already happened," he finished.<br>"Exactly. Though that said, it helps to know what's meant to happen so it doesn't get changed, but... I have to find out if Xigbar's here. See if I can get back before either he or I influence anything."  
>"If you encounter Ventus..."<br>"No, Eraqus. I won't tell him. I'm not even meant to be here, remember. I know how much you want him brought back, but I won't stop the others, or try to change their course at all. This is their story, not mine."  
>Eraqus took a deep breath, then replied, "I let my heart influence my judgement, and forgot for a moment you were not of our time. My apologies. Perhaps instead, you would accept some instruction... along with these?"<br>He pulled out two things, one of which I recognised instantly. Terra had returned it to me, after all. But this was in pristine state, not worn down with however many battles it would see me through and an age in the Keyblade Graveyard, patiently waiting with Terra for me to return. It was of course, my own Keyblade armour.  
>But with it was also a chain I did not recognise, on the end of which was a silver crescent moon token.<br>"A Keyblade?" I murmured aloud.  
>"<em>Your<em> Keyblade," Eraqus corrected. Was there a difference? He answered for me as I set my armour in place. "It is not often a new Keyblade is forged, and seldom without reason. Rarer still are Keyblades that are forged of their own accord, simply coming into existance on their own. This is one such Keyblade. Yen Sid tells me it appeared when you arrived here."  
>Well, what do you know? A Keyblade that'd never appear anywhere else, didn't belong to someone else, and wasn't one of Sora's normally either. It really was all mine.<br>Though I didn't exactly want to set aside either Keyblade given the neat balance of power and magic they gave, I reluctantly exchanged Fenrir for this new one, bringing with it a new form. A symmetrical handle with three curved points emerging from it, the lower two resembling the silver moon token. The top-most two points were a more orange, an orange that was more pronounced around the handle itself.  
>A simple brown stem to the key part of the blade, which appeared almost like the tips of a fire, reaching out with similar points to those on the handle. The back of the key part again matched the moon token on it, going from silver on it, back to the same orange closer to the other side.<br>Alright, so I'm not good at describing everything. But you get the idea.  
>It wasn't hard to tell this Keyblade had a bit more of a boost to the magic too, but beyond that, who could tell what capabilities it held? Eraqus told me even he and Yen Sid didn't know, though he did tell me the Keyblade's name – Gilded Light.<br>Then we got around to the instruction he mentioned – namely, just how exactly I was meant to have my Keyblade become a Glider, and the new dangers of getting around in the Lanes Between now presented.  
>Gummi Ships are somehow designed to protect the occupants from any of the real threats that are in the Lanes Between, but with just a Glider and my armour, I had to worry about more. For one thing, without the armour I'd be fully exposed to everything when between worlds, and with that bit of darkness inside me still, that wasn't going to be healthy for me.<br>Normally I'd be unarmed, though with the ability to wield a second Keyblade he noted that I might be able to use one of them, at least. Then he pointed out one of the major limitations of travelling by Glider.  
>When leaving a world, I had to aim for another world. There would be no turning back, no changing to a different world until I got there. If I wanted to go somewhere else after I'd entered the portal created by the Glider, I'd have to wait.<br>With those lessons learned, I took my Glider out for a short trip without leaving the Land of Departure to get used to it. Mine is much like Ven's in that I stand on it as if it's a surfboard or something, but the design is obviously different. Since the first Keyblade I obtained was the Kingdom Key, it was based on it's appearance instead, though again it still bears similarity to Ven's own.  
>"Stay safe, Sora," Eraqus told me once he was satisfied I too was ready to depart.<br>"Don't worry about me, Master Eraqus," I smiled. "I have it on best authority I'm more than a match for anything I'm going to meet out here." I waited while he stepped back – he'd quickly noticed I wasn't always the best when it came to actually taking off after a near miss. During that pause though, I glanced up and muttered to myself, "Where are you right now, Ven?"  
>It could have just been the wind, it could have been something of the Dimension link Aqua had forged between Ven and me, or it could have been Ven's heart in me, remembering where he was at this time. But I'm certain I heard his voice tell me, Castle of Dreams.<br>The problem was, I had no idea which worlds where which. I had a good feeling about one that seemed oddly brighter than the rest, so made that my destination. Maybe it'd lead me to one of the other three, maybe I'd end up there before or after them. Only one way to find out.  
>Like travelling by Gummi Ship though, the Lanes Between are often terribly boring to actually travel through. It did give me the chance to see other worlds more clearly, though through the streaked edges of the portal taking me to wherever, it was still a job to figure out which one was which. I think I passed the worlds for Enchanted Dominion and Dwarf Woodlands along the way, though I'm sure they weren't in the same places I saw them during the few times I've actually played Birth By Sleep. But that along with the point that the worlds seem to change their positions in all of the games suggested to me that perhaps they move around of their own accord somehow – like real planets do around something else, maybe they had something similar.<br>I come up with strange ideas when bored. It kinda shows, doesn't it?


	75. Mirror, Mirror

One of the things I've often prided myself on is having almost never gotten caught in any kind of physical traps. So it was a bit of a blow to arrive at the world I'd aimed for, only to appear inside some kind of metal cage. Being about three inches tall only added insult to injury.  
>Without much of a view, or the means to unlock this cage from down here, there was still no telling where I'd ended up exactly. There didn't seem to be any sign of Ventus, so I had to hope someone would be along to find me and let me out. Until then, there was nothing I could do.<br>I didn't have long to wait though. I spotted a similarly shrunken down Ven emerge from a mouse hole in the far wall, hauling on what to him must have been a giant white button.  
>"Hey, Ven!" I called to him. "Get me outta here and I'll give you a hand with that!"<br>It took him a few moments to realize who he was hearing, and where from.  
>"You too, huh?" was all he said, trying not to laugh as he let me out. "What're you doing here?"<br>"Besides helping you? I'm looking for a few things. And I thought I'd check up on you."  
>"Maybe we can work together? What're you looking for?"<br>"The one who's responsible for dropping me here," I shrugged. "Anywhere you see those white things, you can guarantee there'll be some clue to finding him."  
>"Say, I saw some of them earlier. Let me get this up to Jaq, and I'll show ya where."<br>Don't you love it when things just arrange themselves to put what you want right in front of you?  
>Ven introduced me to Jaq the mouse, who to be honest if it weren't for the subtitles in the games, I'd never understand. Between the three of us, and with Ven interpreting for me, we helped finish Cinderella's dress – meaning this was the Castle of Dreams, the home world of one of the three princesses I'd never met before Hollow Bastion. Perhaps I'd get to visit the others too.<br>Once we'd used up the various materials Ven had gathered, Jaq apparently decided all it needed now was a pearl to finish it off. Naturally, being the helpful soul he is, Ven agreed to find one. I got dragged along because he hadn't told me where the Nobodies had been seen.  
>It turned out they were both in the same area – the pearl they wanted wasn't far from a cat named Lucifer, and there were several Sniper Nobodies clinging to nearby surfaces, each of which aiming for the cat. A Dusk near to the pearl was looking around warily, as if it was some kind of sentry.<br>Ven ignored this and started to sneak toward the pearl anyway, but I held him back.  
>"Look – they're up to something," I pointed them out. "If that one alerts the others, they'll shoot the cat, and if the cat wakes up-"<br>"We could become cat feed. But what if we sneak up on both the cat and those white weirdos?"  
>"I don't think you can. That one looks like it's keeping a close watch out."<br>"Hey, Sora? You know what they really are?"  
>"Nobodies. The little one by Lucifer's a Dusk, the others are Snipers, and they're all trouble. I'm probably not meant to tell you that, but it's a small tidbit, I doubt it'll make that much difference." I watched the Nobodies for a little longer, then sighed. "It doesn't look like we'll be able to reach the pearl without being noticed by one of the two. I guess we'd better get on with this."<br>There was no point in sneaking with the Nobodies around. As I'd thought, the Dusk had been watching out for us, and when it saw us it disappeared with a crackle. One of Lucifer's ears twitched in response, then the Snipers shot it. That woke Lucifer up straight into irritation, and the first thing he saw was us by the pearl.  
>I sent the pearl rolling toward the nearest mouse hole with one Keyblade for Jaq to retrieve, then got shot in the back by one of the Snipers behind me.<br>"Leave Lucifer to me," Ven told me. "You deal with the Nobodies."  
>Sound thinking. I should have thought of it myself.<br>The problem with the Snipers was that they'd picked places that were out of reach from the ground. Some of them I could use the furniture and conveniently arranged stacks of boxes to reach, but this took time and allowed them to aim for Ven instead – not something I could just allow to happen.  
>The real issue was that I was too small, and therefore everything else in the room was too big. But with that much room, an easy solution started to edge it's way into my mind.<br>I didn't bother hauling out my armour with my Glider this time, since I wasn't going between worlds. Just as Eraqus had thought, I could still use my off-hand Keyblade while on the Glider, and now it was the Snipers having trouble keeping up. They could shoot at me, but I was a moving target now, and not easily hit.  
>Several circuits of the room later, and the only Nobody left was one Sniper that was making a bolt for the mouse hole, which still had the pearl beside it. Trying to get off a glider at speed without stopping isn't the easiest thing in the world, but somehow I managed it, managed to retrieve Gilded Light, and destroy the Sniper in one quick movement.<br>Lucifer had apparently had enough of Ven fighting back and also fled, allowing Ven to hurry over to rejoin me.  
>"When'd you get <em>that<em>?" he demanded of me, firstly pointing to my Keyblade, then the armour.  
>"Oh, just recently. They were a gift from Eraqus and Yen Sid, I guess you could say."<br>"Guess that really makes you one of us now, huh?"  
>"You mean there was any doubt?" I asked him innocently.<br>We got the pearl back and finished Cinderella's dress for her, just in time too. I quietly kept out of sight when Ven and Jaq presented it to her though. While I'm sure it would have been nice to be thanked for my small part in getting it finished, I also knew she'd get to meet me later on. Princess or not, I wasn't going to risk her knowing me early just for a bit of gratification.  
>Once she'd gone, Jaq and Ven talked briefly before the little mouse also left, and I rejoined him.<br>"Where're you off to next, Ven?"  
>"I dunno," he shrugged. "Whichever world I find next I guess. Terra and Aqua might know where the worlds are out there, but Eraqus never taught me," he said with a faint edge of resentment.<br>"He had what he thought were good reasons, Ven."  
>"How would you know? You weren't there."<br>"You'd be surprised what I know, and amazed if I told you. Trust me Ven, I know what I'm saying. Eraqus's reasons might not have been clear, they might not even make sense to you when you find them out, but he thought he was doing the right thing."  
>"Well, thanks... I guess. Anyhow, what about you? Where're you going?"<br>I didn't answer right away, scrambling up onto the window's ledge to see the night sky above. As there had been back in the Land of Departure, there was a star that seemed unusually bright. Two of them, in fact. Perhaps those stars were brighter because that was where someone significant was, such as one of Eraqus's three apprentices. At last, I had a navigational aid.  
>To Ven though, I pointed at one and said, "Second star on the right, then straight on 'til morning. You might want to hop down though – even Eraqus will tell you I haven't quite got the hang of this yet."<p>

Another short flight through the Lanes Between later, and I arrived at the Dwarf Woodlands. I know that, because I recognised where I appeared to be the cottage of the dwarves. A glance inside told me Snow White was already there – evidently Ventus had already made his visit here. The question was, who was visiting at the moment?  
>One way to answer that was to head into the dark looking woodlands, which should, if I remembered right, lead out to where Snow White would be gathering flowers if this was Terra's visit. If it was Aqua's turn to be here, then I'd find her somewhere along the way anyway. I remember more about this world than most of the others, at least.<br>Unversed showed up along the way, my first encounter with them personally, though I can't say they were any real threat. They seemed to me to be about on par with the low-level Heartless, such as Shadows and Soldiers. Far from being troublesome to me.  
>As I emerged, I found my answer – this was Terra's visit. He was right in the flower glade ahead, talking with Snow White.<br>Like Cinderella, I didn't want her to know me before I met her, as a kind of precautionary measure. But I wasn't going to just leave this world without checking in with Terra either, so I withdrew back into the forest a ways, activated my armour so she wouldn't recognise me, then re-emerged back out again just as the Unversed were showing up. Snow White screamed and ran past me into the woods.  
>As they had been in those woods, they were little trouble for me, even Terra didn't have much trouble, though he remained wary of me. After a short flood of several waves of Unversed finally fell to us, he rounded on me.<br>"Just who're you?" he demanded.  
>"Really Terra, is that any way to greet a friend?" I asked him, removing the armour again.<br>"Sora? That was you under there?"  
>"Well obviously, did you think it was going to be someone else?"<br>"I didn't know you had your own armour."  
>"Gift from Eraqus and Yen Sid," I explained. Again. I hoped the next world I went to, I'd see Aqua so I could explain the same to her and stop repeating myself. "Anyway, I thought I'd drop in and see what you're up to."<br>"Did Eraqus put you up to this?"  
>"Don't be absurd, I do what I want to, and I don't interfere in what you three are doing. I might join forced to lend you a hand whenever I show up, but I'm not going to stop any of you, or try to change what you're doing at all."<br>"And you're not going to let on anything that might help us either, are you?"  
>"That depends on whether I think it's safe to say so," I shrugged.<br>"How about where Master Xehanort is then?"  
>"Right now? I haven't a clue. I'm pretty sure he'll show up sooner or later though, so don't worry. Now, how about you stop asking me questions, and I'll lend a hand while we're both here? I'd be ready for a fight if you're going back up to the castle, by the way."<br>Terra chose not to answer that, instead just leading the way toward the room with the magic mirror.  
>"Since you're tagging along," he said along the way. "You might as well help me out. But I'm the one that decides what we do, Sora."<br>"Of course, this is your story, after all. I'm just here to lend a hand."  
>"What's with calling it a story?"<br>"Well, isn't it? Who knows, maybe in time what you do here will become a story that many others will get to hear about, perhaps even see."  
>"You do, for one," he replied. "Sometimes it seems like you know altogether too much."<br>"Yes," I agreed. "I know."  
>"How dare you return here, you blundering fool!" a voice demanded from up ahead as we entered the next room.<br>"What're you talking about?" Terra answered calmly.  
>"I ordered you to bring me Snow White's heart – not some little kid!"<br>"Hey!" I started to protest, but Terra quickly silenced me.  
>"A <em>request<em> I chose to ignore. You know, you claim to be radiant, but all I see are shadows of jealousy hanging thick on your heart.  
>"You will pay for such insolence!" the Queen, I surmised, exploded. "Magic Mirror on the wall, consume these fools, once and for all!"<br>Now a face appeared in the mirror.  
>"Alas my liege, that I cannot do," it told her. "I have no power save answers true."<br>"A fight you were saying?" Terra murmured to me.  
>"It'll happen in a moment," I replied. "Blink and you'll miss it."<br>The Queen meanwhile seized a vial of a green liquid and smashed it against the mirror, which shined brightly and transported the two of us the the realm inside the Magic Mirror, where the face had power and was, no thanks to the potion, ready to make good on the Queen's demand to consume us both.  
>Here in this mirror realm, the Spirit of the Magic Mirror held sway and power. It was still a kind of mask though, and as a result probably not very resilient.<br>At first it spat fireballs at us, a tactic that I was no stranger to. A simple Reflect spell sent them back at it, and it quickly desisted, instead sinking into the strangely liquid floor – liquid in appearance, but solid when stepped on, it seemed.  
>When it emerged there was a ring of reflections of the mask surrounding us, once more spitting fireballs from each of them. While in the first case I had been able to counter this tactic by putting myself between them and Terra, when faced with them from all sides the same trick wasn't going to work.<br>Terra discovered something I admit I never did though, aiming for one specific mask – the only one that was smiling. When he hit it, the other masks disappeared. Now we knew how to tell the real one from the fakes.  
>It escaped from the barrage of Terra's attacks when it saw me heading to join in, heading upwards to glide overhead, once more dropping fireballs. I sent Blizzard at it, trying to aim given for it's movement so it'd hit the spirit. The first two missed, but the third caught and sent it back down to the floor, where it quickly righted itself and flew at me.<br>I simply swung my Keyblades at it as it drew close, the combined force of it's momentum and my strikes making me slip back on the floor a ways, but managing to hold it off. Once we'd stopped moving I lashed out, quickly joined by Terra, and it wasn't long before the spirit of the Magic Mirror was defeated.  
>The Queen was naturally surprised, but gave in and had the mirror give Terra the answers he wanted. I confirmed them, clarifying it's meaning as the Keyblade Graveyard, then as I had with Ven, Terra and I went our separate ways. This time I hoped the star I'd aimed for was glowing brighter because of Aqua. I didn't want to show any favouritism, after all.<p> 


	76. Old Friends Again

When I landed at the world that had been brightest to me, it was not one I had expected to be at. I'm certain that none of other three ever went to the Disney Castle, and just as certain that what I saw happen isn't something normally seen.  
>As it was though, I guided my Glider in through the same entrance I used to pilot the Gummi Ship. There were two incomplete Gummi Ships docked up in there, both identical – Mickey's and the one that would eventually become my own?<br>I carefully concealed my Glider behind one of the two Gummi Ships, so I could leave much quicker when the time came. A remarkably good idea, in hindsight.  
>Since there was a fair chance I'd run into the King, if not also the Queen, Donald, Goofy, Chip and Dale, I did not remove the armour once I got there. I was determined to have as small in impact as possible here if I could help it.<br>As it happened I was right to have suspected such a meeting. As I headed up the stairs that lead to the courtyard, I met Mickey hurrying the other way. He barely even glanced at me on the way past. Where was he off to? For that matter, with the Gummi Ships far from ready to go, how was he going to get there? I took what I saw as a risk in heading back down to see, but he'd already gone.  
>Evidently my means of figuring out which world was my next destination was not perfect, since clearly it had been his light I'd seen illuminate the castle brighter than other worlds nearby.<br>I almost left after him, but then a thought occurred to me. Mickey had to know where Yen Sid's tower was, and surely that meant he had some idea of where the different worlds would be. Maybe if I went looking around, I could find that same means, so I wouldn't have to keep guessing so much.  
>I found what I was looking for in the Library, and I felt a bit foolish for not thinking of it sooner. I'd seen it when I came here to help the Queen and not even given it a second glance – a series of spheres representing each known world, much like a model solar system, but mapping the Lanes Between instead.<br>Perhaps more interestingly this time and what caught my attention, was that some few of the worlds seemed to show scenes above them. All of them were small and hard to make out, but some were easily identifiable. Terra was by now at Yen Sid's tower, a small scene above it showing him watching Mickey leave by Star Shard – the little mouse had made good time in getting there, clearly.  
>I couldn't see any corresponding scene for Aqua or Ventus though. There was one for Eraqus, who appeared to be staring up at the skies above the Land of Departure. No doubt he was concerned for all four of us.<br>As I watched, Terra's faded out and a tiny light seemed to emerge from the model of the Mysterious Tower, heading out where there was no world on this model. Closer examination revealed there was another similarly tiny light heading there from Enchanted Dominion. Ven or Aqua? But where were they heading, and why was there no model world for their destination?  
>"Hey! What're you doing here?" a familiar voice cried.<br>"Relax, Donald," I replied without thinking. "I'm just watching this."  
>Donald seemed momentarily nonplussed. Of course, I'd forgotten he had no idea who I was yet, and even then I still bore my armour, concealing my identity anyway.<br>"The King knows I'm here," I added, realizing this.  
>"But the King just left!" he protested.<br>"I know, I caught him on the way out."  
>"But who are you?"<br>I hesitated – I couldn't answer that, Donald had never mentioned seeing me before encountering me in Traverse Town.  
>"I'm one of Master Eraqus's apprentices," I answered eventually, watching as the tiny light for Terra stopped. A scene formed, hard to make out. He was there, and there was another could have been Xehanort. The rocky land of the Keyblade Graveyard was clearly visible though. "You might say I'm in the middle of an important mission."<br>"What mission?"  
>Donald, do you ever stop asking questions?<br>"I can't talk about it. It's too important."  
>"You could just be saying that," he replied, waving the rod menacingly.<br>I turned to face him, though that had little effect. "Donald, I'm trying to work something out here. I can't concentrate with you pestering me. And if you've really got a problem with me, you wait until you meet me again in Traverse Town."  
>"Traverse Town? Never heard of it."<br>"That's because it doesn't exist yet," I told him, silently cursing my careless tongue. I could at least have glanced back to check and see if it was there, but I should have realized it wouldn't be.  
>"Then how do you know it'll exist?"<br>"Because I'm special. No offence Donald, but go away before I miss something important."  
>Sorry Donald, but I could do without the distraction.<br>By the time I turned back, whatever Terra had been doing had concluded, and he was headed off again, this time to Radiant Garden. The other light was now at the unmarked world Terra had been at.  
>I watched the small scene that appeared for only a moment before running back outside. The light had been Ven's, and as I know from Terra's visit where this was... Mickey had said he'd seen me there with Ventus, and that meant I had to get there quickly. If I didn't get there when he remembered me being there, anything could have happened.<br>As I'd had the foresight to leave my Glider out and ready to go and left my armour on while in the castle, I was able to leave in short order, almost throwing myself back into the Lanes Between to try and get to the Keyblade Graveyard in time.  
>Something really didn't want me to get there though, as the Metamorphosis – an Unversed boss that Ventus would later meet on the way to Deep Space, and then defeat once in that world – showed up to menace me along the way, frequently trying to bar my path.<br>I quickly found my magic was ineffective while in one of these portals between worlds, so had to resort to the one Keyblade I could call on while in flight. Flying and fighting isn't easy, but I managed to avoid most of it's attacks and hurt it enough to persuade it to go and annoy someone else with only a few minutes to spare before the Keyblade Graveyard came into view.  
>When I landed, I wasn't far from Ventus and Vanitas. The two were already fighting, but it was clear that Ven was outmatched at this point. As Mickey had yet to show up to come to his aid, I discarded my armour and Glider, then came at Vanitas from behind so he wouldn't notice me.<br>Ven kind of spoiled that though, calling to me as I drew close. Vanitas drew back from him, half-turning to see me, then quickly ducked under my own strike for him.  
>"Why don't you pick on someone more suited to you?" I snarled at him, going on the offensive. Vanitas may have been more than a match for Ventus, but he was far from ready to take me on, and a series of swift strikes that drove him back as he attempted to block them only emphasized that.<br>Then he tried vanishing, reappearing not far from the unwary Ventus. As I'd driven him back a fair ways from Ventus, this allowed him to attack Ven again unchecked. A few hastily cast spells proved that Vanitas was strangely immune to Magnet and Gravity, and my attempt to cast Stop was similarly useless.  
>Thunder caught him though, allowing me to try and catch up, but in the delay the damage had been done. Ven was in no condition to fight off Vanitas now.<br>Then Mickey appeared in a flash of light from the Star Shard, healing Ventus then joining me in my efforts to defeat Vanitas, with Ven not far behind once the healing spell had caught, emphasized by a quick one of my own to ensure he'd recover.  
>Vanitas bore our concerted attack for only a short time before laying on the ground defeated. Ven moved in to finish him, but he got clear instead.<br>"Hmph. If it hadn't been for you," he waved his Keyblade at me threateningly. "I would have beaten you. As for you..." he turned to Ventus. "You ought to learn to fight your own battles. Consider yourself... on probation," he added, then disappeared.  
>"Probation for what?" Ven wondered. "Oh, right! Thanks for your help, both of you. I'm Ven," he introduced himself to Mickey, who responded in kind, then looked after me.<br>"Who's he?"  
>I'd left the two of them to it, going to one of the nearby precipices to see if I could see the field of old Keyblades. That place is bigger than it looks though, and I couldn't see it from there.<br>"He's Sora," Ven told Mickey for me when I didn't answer. "Eraqus named him a Keyblade Master just recently."  
>"Sora, huh? Yen Sid mentioned something about a Sora before... well, I was training with him see, but when I heard he found the worlds were in trouble, I sorta... took off without telling him."<br>"Guess that makes two of us. I ran off too. Wait, what did Yen Sid say about Sora?"  
>"Not sure I should say," Mickey replied. "I kinda wasn't meant to be listening in."<br>"Oh well," Ven shrugged. "So where're you off to next?"  
>"I don't have a clue," he answered. "I got this Star Shard off Yen Sid. All I hafta do is think it, and it'll take me anywhere I wanna go. Or at least it's meant to – I haven't quite got the hang of it yet... things like when or where... it just kinda kicks in whenever it wants to."<br>"Maybe it reacts to events where you're needed," I told him, rejoining them. "Or at least where it thinks you're needed."  
>Mickey didn't get the chance to reply, because it started glowing again. This time it took all three of us with it to whatever destination it had in mind.<p> 


	77. Radiant Garden

The Star Shard separated us from Mickey during the journey to Radiant Garden, though it did not actually deposit us in that world. As neither one of us  
>had our armour out, we were both at risk of anything that waited in the Lanes Between, so quickly descended to enter the world for our own safety more than anything.<br>Radiant Garden looks very different to Hollow Bastion, not least because of the much more evident plant life and water features that decorated so much of the town. The tower that Maleficent would later use as her own stronghold was clearly recognisable over the skyline, though naturally it lacked the Heartless emblem that I had previously seen adorning it.  
>There were few places here I recognised from my own visits, such at the area where Merlin's house resides. That at least was identical, but it was strange to see the town around it that had no need of restoration, where I had grown accustomed to seeing the reconstruction efforts.<br>Ven asked me to stay with him in case Vanitas turned up again, an understandable concern given how easily Vanitas had overpowered him until either Mickey or I had shown up. I knew he wouldn't be seeing Vanitas again for a time, but I had no problems with this. Besides, Axel had mentioned he recalled my presence with Ventus, and Tron's memory of Radiant Garden showed me with him, though armoured.  
>I made some show of helping him find Mickey, though I had seen him get taken on a different course to us when we'd been dropped off here. I did feel a little guilty for deceiving him into thinking I was looking, but I refused outright to reveal that I had knowledge others didn't while here. Eraqus and Yen Sid I trusted to know; others it would have been difficult to do the same.<br>Unversed showed up to menace us, and once again several Nobodies also showed up. They only seemed to appear whenever I was with Ventus – perhaps they were using his heart as a beacon, and as his heart also resided within me, it was confusing them? It certainly seemed to explain why they always seemed uncertain whenever the two of us were nearby. If we drew apart the effect was less noticeable, but still present, lending weight to the theory.  
>We passed through an area with a massive water feature, with many waterfalls and pools, even fountains that held pressure enough to send either of aloft to reach one of the higher pools.<br>This was the place Tron's memory of the town had shown me. Surely I had to have had a reason to haul out the armour? But there didn't seem to be anything worth it, no company, not even an Unversed. But I had a bad feeling all the same, and you know what goes with those...  
>Bad feeling or not, we eventually figured out how to use the fountains to push onward until we came at last to the gates of the castle itself, with Dilan and Aeleus – later known as Xaldin and Lexaeus respectively – guarding the doors. I paused as soon as I spotted them, drawing back out of sight.<br>"Something up?" Ven asked me curiously, noticing my concerned expression.  
>"I... know them. Or at least... I know who they'll become."<br>"Huh? That doesn't make any sense. How can you know someone they haven't become yet?"  
>"It's a long and complicated story, and not one we have time for. You'll get it sooner or later, don't worry – I have that on best authority." Or at least, I did if Ven's resident heart with me could tell what I was doing.<br>"I could go on without you," he suggested. "They look tough, but I'm sure they aren't any trouble."  
>"Go on. But if something comes up..."<br>"I'll call for you. Just wait here."  
>I still had the nagging bad feeling though. Without Roxas around to try and pick up more from it though, I had no way of telling what it related to – whether it was these two, or another of Ansem the Wise's apprentices, or something else entirely.<br>"Hold on," a voice that was very similar to Xaldin's came to me.  
>"The castle is presently closed," another that would later belong to Lexaeus added.<br>"But somebody mighta come this way, a friend of mine. I gotta find him!"  
>There was a pause, then Dilan replied, "We aren't aware of any visitors. Now run along home boy, before the monsters get you."<br>"I can handle monsters easily," Ven told them, but footsteps told me he was turning back. "Huh?"  
>Now I glanced up. I'd been leaning against one wall, not paying attention to anything but what they were saying. A part of the Trinity Armour Unversed just passed me.<br>"They're here!" Aeleus snapped.  
>"Radiant Garden shall not fall under the likes of you." Dilan said firmly.<br>"Leave it to me!" Ven told them, running into view after the Unversed. "C'mon Sora, we gotta get after it!" So much for not being noticed.  
>Aeleus and Dilan called after him in chagrin, but as they left earshot I heard the familiar voice of Vexen, now Even, chide them for thinking of leaving the castle undefended.<br>We gave chase to the Unversed, with me easily catching up to Ventus as we headed into the area with all the fountains and such. Rather than waste time taking the long route around, we both simply dropped down to the lowest part, so we could take the far stairs and perhaps close on the Unversed.  
>Someone else had other ideas though. Someone barring our path, with a line of Sniper Nobodies on either side of him.<br>"Xigbar!" I exclaimed, recognising him instantly. "Get out of my way, or-"  
>"Or what?" he grinned. "You'll destroy me? How will you get back then, Liam?"<br>"That's Sora!" I insisted. It had been bad enough people doing that before, but now I had him doing it here in the past too? At least with it being only him that knew, I'd be able to discredit him easier.  
>I hated to admit it though, but he was right – I needed him. In the moment of hesitation I had, the Snipers took aim, not at me, but at Ventus. If something happened to him...<br>Now I understood why Xigbar had mentioned my morals when he sent me back – he had no problem with altering the past, I was determined to leave as small in impact as possible. I could not ignore this though. With the number of Nobodies aiming for him, let alone Xigbar himself taking aim with his own arrowguns, Ven had no chance.  
>Then I understood Tron's image and why I had been armoured. Xigbar would not expect me to have armour, but would expect me to defend Ventus to preserve the timeline. In doing so, I'd take the hits meant for him, and there was no way I could survive that either. Unless...<br>I interposed myself between the two.  
>"Just as I thought," Xigbar laughed. I waited until the last moment to activate my armour, and even then it was cutting it fine. A few shots may have got me before it took effect, it's hard to say. Some of them caught me even afterwards, as the armour did not make me totally invulnerable to harm, but it was enough that I withstood the barrage. "Impossible," I heard Xigbar breath.<br>"Care to try that again, Nobody?" I replied with contempt. A round of Thunder spells began to decimate the Nobodies from the furthest ones in toward him. Xigbar muttered a brief curse at me, then beat a retreat into a dark corridor, the surviving Snipers going with him.  
>"Sora, are you alright?" Ven asked from behind me.<br>"Fine," I answered shortly. "But if I ever get my hands on him again..."  
>"You took those hits for me. Thanks."<br>"I did what I had to do. Now we'd better get after that Unversed and quick!"  
>"Why did he call you Liam?" he asked as we set off again.<br>"Bad call on his part," I answered. "Don't let him fool you, I'm still the same Sora you've always known."  
>"And you called him a Nobody too – what was that about?"<br>"Let it lie, Ven. That's not something I can tell you yet. Look out!" I called ahead, seeing Donald's Uncle Scrooge being menaced by the same Unversed we had been chasing. Ven distracted it by hurling his Keyblade at it, allowing Scrooge to get clear and the Unversed to escape. We almost headed after it, but of course Scrooge held us back.  
>"Now hold on there, wait a moment laddies. Ye are a laddie aren't you?" he asked me. Of course, I still had my armour on and quickly dismissed it. "So ye are. Now aren't ye even gonna give me a chance to repay ye?"<br>Ever generous even when in a hurry, Ven replied, "Oh, you don't need to. We do this sorta thing all the time."  
>"Now just hold yer horses. I dinna mean me fortune. Maybe a wee bit o' gold or a small token..." Is it just me that wonders why Scrooge seems to talk almost normally, if with a Scottish accent, where Donald actually sounds more like a duck?<br>"Could you make it fast?" Ven insisted. "Only we gotta get after that thing before it causes more trouble."  
>Feigning obliviousness to this, Scrooge took off his hat. "I know – I've just the thing in here," he said, beckoning us close. "Ye lads can tell me. Ye came from another world, didn't ye?"<br>"Yes," I replied. "But keep it to yourself. We're kind of busy, and don't need unwanted attention."  
>"Dinna worry. Me bill is sealed. Yer secret's safe with me, and I'll not be askin' ye any awkward questions. 'Tis the same with me, after all."<br>"I heard – you had a wizard named Merlin bring you here. But we really do have to move," I insisted.  
>"Ach, yes, I'm holding ye up. Here – these be lifetime passes to Disney Town. Enough for the two of ye to take an adult with ya each."<br>"Thanks," Ven said. "Gotta run though!"  
>"Adult!" I fumed as we left. What does he think I am, a child!"<br>"You hardly look older than me, y'know."  
>"Don't tell me you didn't take offence too!"<br>"Well yeah, but it wouldn't be right to show that in front of him, would it? Not much point getting worked up over it, so why worry?"  
>Sometimes I wonder why I don't practice that myself.<br>As we headed into the district where Merlin's residence is, more Unversed showed up.  
>"Hang it all! Can't I get a moment's peace these days?" he exclaimed, sending a number of spells at the Unversed.<br>"Mister, get inside!" Ven told him. "It's not safe out here."  
>"Ven! You can see he can do magic, he's safe. Sorry about that Merlin," I told the wizard, forgetting for a moment he didn't know me. "We'll mop up these Unversed for you, you save your magic."<br>"Well, it's about time you showed up!" Merlin told me indignantly, ignoring both our requests until there were no more Unversed.  
>"Thanks for the help," I said afterwards. "We'd better get after that Unversed."<br>"Now hold on a moment there! I didn't say it was about time for nothing! You seem to be in a hurry, so come inside my home, and I'll cast a spell to slow time so you won't have to rush. I need to talk to you at least, Sora."  
>Why is it that whenever I'm trying to do something important, everything just has to get in the way? And just what did Merlin want with me, and how did he know who I was?<p> 


	78. Bittersweet Reunion

Merlin took my impatient and somewhat irritable mood in his stride, not something most people manage to do when it comes to me at the best of times. True to his word, he set a spell in motion that slowed our passage through time so the Unversed wouldn't get away so quickly – a powerful spell in itself, far beyond my capabilities. If I could use it though...  
>But as it was I was limited to those spells I had collected before and brought with me, even though at least three of them – Stop, Gravity and Magnet – had either ceased to work, or lost much of their usefulness.<br>Before dealing with me directly, he explained to Ventus that it was me he needed, but that the two of us ought to remain together for a time, instead handing him a book that he thought would help awaken certain dormant powers within. It was of course, the same book Sora had arrange for me to avoid, Winnie the Pooh. Being a magical book, he was taken inside it in the same manner Sora does, leaving Merlin and me technically alone.  
>"I'm assuming you did that because you didn't want him to hear," I said almost as soon as Ven had vanished into the book.<br>"Let us just say that Yen Sid has entrusted me with certain information that you do not wish Eraqus's other apprentices to know."  
>"I want to know how much."<br>Merlin sighed, but answered. "He has told me I'll be seeing you again in ten years time, not to mention this and any other encounters we have between now and then to you when we finally do meet, along with a great deal about your magic capabilities – or lack thereof."  
>"Lack? My magic is just fine, thanks!"<br>"But as you are no doubt aware, some of them are not effective. Yen Sid has also asked me to teach you some additional magic, some that I would not normally give to just anyone. These are powerful spells, and not to be misused, Sora."  
>"Misused is a matter of perspective," I shrugged. "I'll use them as I see necessary to do what I have to."<br>"Just be cautious when you do use them... inexperience with some can alter the intended effects. You must remember to exercise this caution with any magic, but especially so with these."  
>After a brief argument over the proper usages of certain spells, he finally set about teaching me. Actual teaching too, not just having the ability passed to me, these spells I actually had to study and understand before I could even hope to make use of them.<br>Some of them were smaller spells that would prove useful. Slow was one of them, allowing me use of that spell without having to rely on Stop to drop down to Slow when it would have no effect, though of late it hadn't even been doing that.  
>Gravity and Magnet he also re-taught me, which he assured me was necessary for them to reach their full effect again, though they would still not work on more powerful opponents – like Vanitas, who I realized now it had been a waste to try to use them on him.<br>Zero Gravity was a variant of the original Gravity spell. While Gravity pulled targets in and down to the ground, Zero Gravity sent them upward, floating in the air and also lessened the effect of normal gravity on myself, allowing me to reach higher places – like the ceiling of Merlin's house, the first time I casted it. At least I knew I'd done it right, but that wasn't the best way to find out.  
>Other spells were more powerful, harder to master, but were by no means useless. Teleport was one such spell, though I learned a limited version of it that could only achieve short distances. Perhaps useful for getting out of tight spots, though Merlin pointed out it wasn't possible for it to affect anyone but myself – if others were caught with me, I'd have to get them out of trouble the hard way.<br>From there we moved on to some more risky spells that drew power not from my magic, but from my darkness. Merlin advised me he would not normally teach anyone such spells but Yen Sid had insisted, and as he appeared to respect Yen Sid a great deal, he had acceded.  
>Two such abilities that normally only Riku has were the first and most basic abilities he taught, Dark Firaga and Dark Aura – though I quickly realized when learning the former that it might be possible to switch Firaga for almost any other spell. I didn't mention that to Merlin though, he was concerned enough as it was teaching me these.<br>There was only one more advanced darkness-based ability he also ensured I could perform. Dark Haze a devastating two-stage attack that drained my magic and used my darkness, making it by far the most costly ability I had. In the first part I was cloaked in the darkness so that none could perceive me, used to get close to enemies. The second part was a powerful attack, enhanced by the darkness, that had a chance of dooming anything it came into contact with – leaving them with only seconds to attempt to be rid of the doom before it destroyed them.  
>I did not relish having to use my darkness or having new abilities that called on it, no matter how useful they might turn out to be in the long run. I objected loudly when Merlin insisted I should practice each of them once in some kind of hidden basement he had specifically for the purpose, and it was only after a long argument I finally and reluctantly did so.<br>By the time we were done, Ven had finished with the Winnie the Pooh book and sat waiting patiently for us to return from the basement.  
>"Are you done?" he asked when Merlin spelled us back up to join him.<br>"The old coot's finished annoying me," I answered, trying to keep from directing my irritability at him.  
>"Just don't forget the warnings I gave you!" Merlin told me firmly. "Now, you'd better get after that Unversed – the spell I put in place will wear off soon."<br>We didn't need telling twice, quickly restoring the temporarily dismissed Keyblades as we headed back outside and after it. Merlin's spell did not negate immediately, allowing us to pass through what seemed more like a slow-motion scene from a movie.  
>We'd almost caught up with our Unversed when it finally ceased to work, just as we followed it into the reactor area of Radiant Garden, closely followed by Aqua and Terra chasing their own Unversed from other entrances.<br>"Sora?" Aqua called, disbelieving. "Is that you?" Of course, out of all of them she had been the only one who had not encountered me after leaving the Land of Departure.  
>"Well of course it's me!" I snapped, having not yet gotten over my irritable state. "Did you think there was an impersonator running around pretending to be me?"<br>"He's having a bad day," Ven quickly explained to her so she didn't take offence. I would have apologised, but I noticed something in Terra – he was looking at me with a mix of astonishment, awe and concern. Perhaps bearing darkness himself, he could tell I'd recently made use of my own even if it had been just for practicing.  
>I caught his eye for only a moment, then I turned my attention back to the Unversed. The three parts had joined together to form the Trinity Armour.<br>"Is that supposed to impress us?" I asked it disdainfully. "Or did you just think you couldn't take us all on without resorting to that?"  
>As if in response, it blasted a laser attack at me that I barely managed to get clear from. It followed this up with several more similar attacks, this time aimed at all four of us, and a barrage of balls of energy that split into four swarms, each one focused on one of us.<br>I dealt with mine easily, merely raising Reflect to fend the lot off while I busied myself beating it up. Unversed, Heartless and Nobodies share one thing in common – they're good for the therapeutic value you get out of them.  
>Aqua quickly followed suit, naturally relying mostly on her own magic to damage the Trinity Armour and avoid taking any heavy hits. Ventus also avoided the attacks including the many punches it tried to land on him, but in his case his swiftness was his ally. He even managed to get himself in a position where the energy balls following him hit the Trinity Armour itself in an attempt to reach him.<br>Terra, like me, went for the brute force assault, though it has to be said he wasn't as adept at avoiding the attacks aimed for him. I periodically sent a healing spell his way to ensure he didn't drop out of the fight, though as this was Curaga everyone benefited.  
>I discovered that at some point during Merlin's lessons, I'd somehow gained more magic, and was able to set off Curaga twice with room for a few other spells before I finally ran out. Maybe I usually insisted that I wasn't much of a magic user, but with this behind me I was at least as dangerous an opponent magically as I was physically.<br>Then the Trinity Armour split apart again, forcing us to each take different parts. As I boosted our numbers to four, and there were only three parts, I worked with each of them alternately to cover their weaknesses.  
>Aqua got the head part of the Trinity Armour which focused on the laser based attacks it had started the battle with. I passed her an Ether to restore her magic, then put myself between it and her to get it's attention while she unleashed her magic on it, easily avoiding me even with spells that normally travelled in a straight line. Once her magic ran out again, she had to return to her Keyblade, at which point I moved on to assist Ventus.<br>Ven wasn't having too much trouble with his part of the Armour, which happened to be the arms. They had two attacks, either separate as the arms and trying to punch at him, which he easily avoided, or joined together in a kind of tower with blades at the top. In that form it inverted and spun at speed, using those blades to try and cut at him. Again, he avoided it quickly, but having to constantly avoid attacks left him few opportunities to respond.  
>When I joined him they were spinning at him again, so with my newly restored Magnet I pulled it away from him and toward my waiting Keyblades. Like Aqua's piece of the Trinity Armour, I didn't do enough to destroy it, but the damage I did slowed it down to the point that Ventus was able to tackle it alone.<br>Terra had been left with the legs, which tried to stomp on him. Unlike the others, he wasn't having any trouble with this, and had already dealt out considerable damage to it. With my aid, we worked together to finish it off, making it the first of the pieces to be destroyed.  
>The two remaining pieces then teamed up against us to shoot two massive lasers in opposite directions, rotating around to try and catch us. We all avoided it at first, either ducking under or jumping over them to avoid damage. Experimentally, I cast Reflect and let it catch me to see if it worked.<br>My Reflect spell failed to hold for long, but had lessened the effect of what had made it through to me. If it had been a little stronger...  
>Then I had an idea. Dark Firaga I suspected from the look of it I could substitute Firaga for almost any other spell. Since Dark Firaga was more powerful than a normal Firaga for obvious reasons, perhaps it would reinforce a Reflect to the point it would be able to hold off the laser attack.<br>The resulting spell worked, creating a Dark Reflect that was even darker in colour. Terra definitely noticed my use of the darkness now, and the others weren't far behind him in picking up on it. But with the Dark Reflect in place, I could ignore the lasers entirely, allowing me to get right up close and continue the fight where they could not, defeating the already weakened arms and leaving us with only the head.  
>Without it's laser attack to worry about, I quickly dismissed my spell and retreated back to safety to ensure I hadn't ended up with any lasting effects from it. Aqua had apparently restored her magic once more, and between her magic and the last attacks from Ven and Terra, the head also fell to the ground and vanished, defeated by the same attack Ven and Terra are seen doing without my presence.<br>As Ven landed nearby, I nudged him and passed him the spare Disney Town ticket of mine, so he could give Terra and Aqua theirs.  
>"Give me a few moments," I murmured to him. "I'll be fine, I just need a little time."<br>Ven nodded, understanding and intercepted the others before they reached me. I didn't want Terra asking me questions about my darkness, and I knew from Aqua's expression she didn't approve of it either.  
>Once I was certain there were no side effects of my experimental Dark Reflect and the theory it had proved, I listened in to their conversation.<br>"Listen to me, Ven," Aqua said. "We need to get you home."  
>"It's okay, Aqua," he told her. "Trust me, that guy in the mask is history. He'll never bad-mouth Terra again."<br>"You saw the boy in the mask?" Terra demanded unexpectedly.  
>"Uh... yeah... me'n Sora fought him alongside a little guy named Mickey."<br>"Vanitas," Terra muttered. "Ven. You let Aqua take you home." Ven tried to protest, even hold Terra back, but he made his way to me instead. "You can't tell me you don't know what I'm going to talk about," he said. Just behind him, Aqua and Ven remained silent, listening in. "You used the darkness, didn't you?"  
>"Yes," I answered simply. There was no point in denying it.<br>"How long have you had your own?"  
>"Since before you met me. I had no control over it happening. I don't like it, but it does come in useful. I don't let it rule me though."<br>"Does Eraqus know?"  
>"You'd have to ask him yourself. I keep my darkness under control though, so if he does know perhaps he recognised that."<br>"Tell me how you do that, Sora."  
>"I can't do that. It's something you have to learn for yourself."<br>"I... we have a dangerous task ahead of us," he told me, loud enough to ensure the others heard too. "I don't want Ven to get hurt, and I don't want to lose myself to the darkness."  
>"It doesn't matter, Terra," I replied. "You have to learn to control your darkness yourself. No one can do it for you, at least not without doing irreparable harm."<br>"What about this task, Terra?" Aqua asked when Terra didn't answer me. "It doesn't sound like what the Master told you to do."  
>"It might be a different route, but I'm fighting the darkness just like you."<br>"I'm not so sure. I've been to the same worlds as you, and I've seen what you've done. You shouldn't put yourself so close to the darkness."  
>Ven almost protested Terra's innocence in the matter, but I caught his eye and silently indicated he should keep out of it.<br>"You mean you've been spying on me?" Terra demanded, turning to face her. "Is that what he said to do? The Master's orders?"  
>"He was only-" she began, but Terra shook his head and turned away.<br>"I get it," was all he said. Ven called after him, but he snapped, "Just stay put! I'm on my own now, all right? Even you, Sora... there's something you're keeping from us, and I don't like it. Keep away from me if you're not going to help with my darkness," he told me, then departed.  
>"Terra, please listen," Aqua insisted. "The Master has no reason to distrust you, really! He was just... worried," she trailed off, seeing it was making no difference.<br>"You're awful, Aqua," Ven accused, then to me, "Can't you do something?"  
>I shook my head, "I'm not interfering in anything the three of you do. Helping you along your own paths, yes, but these are your stories, and I'm not meant to be a part of them."<br>"I don't know much about you, Sora," Aqua said. "Besides what you've told us. But I get the feeling Terra's right – there's far more to you than any of us thought, and not just your darkness. It's as if you're... out of place somehow."  
>"In a way you're right. That's why I refuse to interfere. Anything I do could seriously affect me. I wouldn't even get involved at all if it wasn't for one small fact – I have to find the one responsible for leaving me here so I can get back again."<br>"And what about Ven? The Master told me to bring him back. Will you also stop me from doing that?"  
>"He doesn't have to," Ven told her. "I won't let you. You've let this whole 'Keyblade Master' thing go to your head, not like Sora."<br>"But Ven, he's trying to look out for you," she protested.  
>"By keeping me locked up in that one world?" he asked sceptically. "I'm going to find Terra – and I know what you'll say, Sora. I'll come find you before we leave." Then he ran off.<br>"What did he mean by that?" Aqua wondered.  
>"Merlin told us he and I oughta stick together," I answered. "He doesn't really need me to be around, but I know Merlin told us that because Yen Sid told him to, and I respect Yen Sid a great deal. If he says I should, then I'll keep nearby. But he'll be fine by himself until the time comes to leave."<br>"I meant about the Keyblade Master part."  
>I looked at her for a long moment before I finally answered, debating with myself whether I should take the risk of getting involved, and even whether it would be getting involved at all, depending on the effects I could have. Finally I decided I had to say something.<br>"The way he's looking at it... you're putting Eraqus's orders and your new role as a Keyblade Master before your friends. Look at how the two of them reacted to what you said just now. Does that look like the reaction you'd get from your friends, or from people who are hearing about a Keyblade Master ordered to take one of them home, and keep watch on the other?"  
>Aqua looked troubled at this, then leaned on the same railing I had been, looking out over Radiant Garden.<br>"What about you, Sora? You're a Keyblade Master too."  
>"But I don't let it go to my head. And I don't have orders from Eraqus to worry about, but I do have my own mission."<br>"Eraqus told me you took the exam by request to him."  
>"That's right. Without the Mark of Mastery, I'd never have gained the armour or Keyblade he gave me, and even if he had they wouldn't have responded to me. With them and the Glider they grant me, I have a means of travelling the Lanes Between."<br>"To find your way home."  
>"Not home exactly, but close enough."<br>"Sora, while you wait for Ven... would you accompany me?"  
>"What for?" I asked with faint amusement. "It's not like you need me for backup."<br>"I just... have this feeling that something bad is going to happen here before I leave."  
>"I guess I shouldn't show favouritism. I've been to worlds alongside Terra and Ventus, why not one with you too? Keep an eye on that bad feeling though... if they're anything like mine, they're not without reason."<p> 


	79. Before they were Nobodies

Aqua and I headed back the same way Ven and I had come, past Merlin's house. Predictably, Merlin was outside waiting for her at least, knowing that the same book Ven had looked at had called her there too.  
>While she too investigated the book of Winnie the Pooh, I had a quick conversation with Merlin. I wanted to have a second look at the details of the Dark Haze he'd taught me, because there was something in it that had been nagging at me.<br>Within the details I found what had been bothering me: a short footnote mentioning it was not selective, nor was it possible to make it so. If an ally got caught by it, they too had a chance to be caught be the doom effect.  
>Merlin understood what I had come for as soon as I showed him this, and I added Esuna to my list of spells, a spell capable of restoring any forcibly induced condition – poison, sleep and of course, doom.<br>With that shorter meeting handled, we continued on until we reached the same central square I'd arrived in. Despite Aqua's bad feeling, we hadn't actually expected to see anyone, let alone Vanitas walking slowly along in thought.  
>"A mask?" Aqua murmured. "Is he the one Terra and Ven mentioned?"<br>"Vanitas," I nodded in agreement.  
>He glanced up as if hearing me say his name. "You again! Why do I keep finding you when I'm looking for Ventus?" he demanded.<br>"I imagine you'll find out in time," I shrugged. "I'm certainly not about to tell you."  
>"You'll tell me what I want to know," he insisted, drawing his Keyblade.<br>"You really think you have a chance against me? After how badly you handled me last time we met?"  
>"I only lost because I was distracted trying to deal with Ventus. That and that little mouse."<br>"So your logic is that without them around, you're a match for me? I like the odds on that. Alright, I'll play your game, Vanitas. Beat me, and I'll give you the answers you want. Lose... well, what happens then is up to you."  
>"Shouldn't you try to stop him?" Aqua asked me.<br>"No. There's a time and a place where he absolutely has to be. I won't interfere with that. Stay out of this fight, Aqua – no matter what you see or hear, only get involved if I ask you to."  
>"Confident, aren't you?" Vanitas remarked. "Shame it's misplaced."<br>"Don't be so sure of that, Vanitas. But I imagine I'll have to demonstrate that to make the point." I descended the steps into the lower central plaza, calling my own Keyblades into view as I did so. "After you," I told him.  
>He started off by rushing at me, but without even bothering to change stance, I blocked that initial attack easily, shoving him back away from me with one Keyblade, and striking out with the other, only narrowly missing him. I followed that up with the same basic tactic as I had last time, a flurry of swift, tightly controlled attacks, never keeping my Keyblade in contact with his any longer than was necessary, taking advantage of every opening.<br>He appeared to freeze in place numerous times during the following battle whenever he was pushed too far back by that kind of attack. I knew how to handle this though, because I knew it meant he'd appear behind me and try to attack. I made the first use of the Teleport spell Merlin had given me to end up behind him, so he encountered nothing but empty air. His Keyblade tapped the ground, followed by a vague, "Huh?" before I hit him hard from behind.  
>I actually went easy on him, never actually directing attack magic at him once. I didn't want to destroy him, only prove the point that he couldn't beat me. He seemed to have trouble handling an opponent with two Keyblades, let alone the swiftness with which I could use them by now. I was a far cry from the inexperienced wielder I'd been back when I left Destiny Islands, that's for sure.<br>In the end, he finally gave up, drawing back away from me exhausted, kneeling and using his Keyblade for support.  
>"Why?" he demanded. "Why do you have two Keyblades, and just where does your strength come from? I know you've got darkness, but you never once touched it in all that fight. You don't even need it. So what's your secret?"<br>"I can't tell you that, even if you had defeated me," I answered. "Knowing in advance would change too much. I can't risk that happening."  
>"You seem to know in advance," he pointed out. "You seem to know everything, even stuff that hasn't happened."<br>"I know. That's why I can't take the risk – I know what's at stake."  
>Then Vanitas did something so unexpected he caught me completely off guard. He removed his mask, revealing the similar features to my own right now, looked me in the eye and said words that I would never have believed could pass his lips.<br>"Take me on as your student, Master Sora. Show me how I can be stronger, to find the strength I need to do what I have to do."  
>Dear gods I was tempted by that. Even if he was insincere, if I came up with reasonable explanations for anything I had him do, he'd never suspect a thing. If he was sincere, the possibilities...<br>But if there's one thing I hold close it's what my ethics tell me is right and wrong. No matter how tempting, I knew even just taking up this request could have far reaching consequences, along with ten years of potential changes that could change or potentially completely erase my story as it had unfolded this far.  
>So reluctantly, I shook my head and told him, "I can't do that either. Not because you're not good enough, don't get me wrong. But you said it yourself, I know stuff that hasn't happened yet. I'm not willing to gamble with the future. I know too well the mistake in trying to change an event that has to happen, and more than once my meddling has come back to haunt me. No, you're better of continuing on your current path, Vanitas. Go," I commanded him. "There are things you have yet to do. The next time we meet for certain will be in the Keyblade Graveyard. Unless one of us causes a change to be made, there won't be any meetings between now and then. Now go, and meet what lays in store for you."<br>Vanitas stared at me in disbelief before snatching up his mask and vanishing into a dark corridor. I'm fairly certain he hadn't expected me to turn him down like that, and if the last hints of his expression were anything to go by, he resented what I'd said.  
>"I think I understand you better now," Aqua told me, coming to my side. "You're not out of place... you're out of time. That's why you couldn't just go home once you got your own Glider, and why you're adamant about not interfering. Our future is your past."<br>"And it's a fine line I'm treading between what I know has happened, and all the possibilities of what could happen, and the different timelines that come from each of them. One step out of line, one unexpected nudge from someone else along the way, and I could lose everything in my past."  
>"That's why you didn't take him on, isn't it? Why you didn't try to defeat him."<br>I nodded, "I can't risk changing the outcome here, Aqua. I might not like it, but there's just too much at stake. Master Aqua... I charge you never to speak a word of this to anyone else. No one must know what you've learned here today. If word got out about me... well, I'd never get any peace for one thing, people coming to me wanting to know what's in their future... I can't be having with that."  
>"Aqua!" Ven called, running in.<br>"Did you find him?" she asked, without showing a hint of the momentous revelation she'd just had.  
>"Yeah, but... he's gone."<br>"Right... I can't stay here then. Stay with Sora, Ven. I know you'll ignore me if I tell you to go home, but at least travel together." She glanced at me and nodded, "He'll be able to handle anything that comes up. You ought to both check in with the Master before long though," she added, then went apart a ways from us to leave.  
>"Should I go back?" Ven asked me as we watched her depart.<br>"That's up to you. You heard what I said – I'm not going to interfere. It's your choice to make. There's no rush though. Take all the time you need; I won't go anywhere without you."  
>"Cute," a new voice, faintly familiar but not quite recognisable, said. "What are you, brothers or something? You certainly look similar enough."<br>"C'mon, brothers, us?" Ven said, looking at me.  
>"I'm just around to keep him safe. That's all there is to it... Lea."<br>"How did you know my name?"  
>"Word around town is that you pick fights or cause trouble just to make sure people remember you. They say it's because you think you can live forever in people's memories. You're right too, and the reverse holds true too. I know in about eleven years, you'll think back to now and remember me."<br>Isa came up behind Lea and looked me over. "You're Sora, aren't you?" Even now his voice sounded fairly monotonous.  
>"What gave me away?"<br>"There was some guy in a black coat who said he'd pay us if we messed you up."  
>"Did you see where he went?"<br>Isa shook his head. "I didn't feel like helping him anyway. Lea, come on. We shouldn't be wasting time here."  
>"Oh, come on Isa. You can't even let me make sure the other kid doesn't forget me?"<br>"Hey, the other kid has a name you know," Ven reminded them.  
>Isa sighed. "Go ahead and indulge yourself then. We sensible people will wait here."<br>Ven pulled out the wooden Keyblade, and Lea the frisbees that resembled the Final Fantasy creatures called Bombs. It was strange, seeing him and Ventus have their play-fight, knowing that in due course he'd become Axel, and it'd be either me or Roxas he'd be with.  
>"Don't take this the wrong way," I said to Isa, watching them. "But when you meet someone named Saïx... tell him Liam's coming for him, and nothing Saïx can do will save him."<br>"How do you know I'll meet this Saïx?"  
>"Trust me," I told him. "You'll meet. He might not understand at first, but by the time he meets Roxas he will."<br>"What did he do to to this Liam that's made him come after him?"  
>"Only Saïx can tell you that. I could tell you, but it's not my place to spell out what he's done for him. Besides, I'm somewhat biased against him. Come on – they'll be finished any moment now."<br>The two of us moved to one of the gardens, sitting on the ledge watching Ven knock Lea to the ground.  
>"Had enough?" he breathed hard. "I'm willing to call it a draw if you are."<br>"Yeah, right! You lost big time!" Ven replied.  
>"C'mon Isa, back me up here," Lea called to him.<br>"Me? From where I stood, the only thing you drew was a big L on your forehead... L for Loser... Lame... Laughable..."  
>"Hey, isn't this the part where ya cheer me up or something? Tell me I'm having a bad day, or not to pull punches? Some friend you are."<br>"Oh, you mean I was supposed to lie," Isa replied, only the faintest hints of a smirk playing over his face. Even now he rarely changed expression.  
>"See what I gotta put up with?" Lea said to Ven. "Sure hope you don't have friends like him."<br>"We should go," Isa told Lea, jumping down.  
>"Guess I can't put it off. See you guys when we see ya. After all, we're friends now. Got it memorized?"<br>Ven chuckled as he watched them leave, rejoining me himself. "Wonder if I'll ever see them again."  
>"Who knows? Are you ready to leave now?"<br>"Think so. Sure you'll be able to keep up with me?" he asked me slyly.  
>"Sure it's not you who'll have to keep up?" I replied with a grin.<br>"Nah – you gotta stick with me, remember? That means you're playing catch up. Catch me if ya can!" he called, already calling his Glider.


	80. With Nobody's Company

Having company when you're travelling between worlds definitely makes a lot of difference. I expected the sounds of everything rushing past to drown out our voices, or at least make it hard to be heard. However, it seemed that one of the interesting side effects of the corridors we created to go between the worlds was that any sound within could easily be heard.  
>On the other hand, keeping company with Ven between worlds reminded me of travelling by Gummi Ship, reminding me I missed the company of the many friends I'd made before Xigbar had decided to see how far he could push my ethics like this. I muttered a brief oath that when I got my hands on him, I'd make him regret what he'd done to me. After forcing him to get us back to our own time, of course.<br>I had reasoned without even bothering to consider Xigbar might have found a way to stop me from doing that. It seemed obvious to me that there was no way out of it. But that's getting ahead.  
>We landed in the Disney Town, not far from the world for the Castle itself. Knowing that nearly everyone we'd meet there would know me eventually, I retained the armour and murmured to Ven that he should come up with a cover to explain it, to which he said, "Stop worrying, Sora. I already thought of that."<br>A little idle curiosity made me wonder why when I'd travelled by Gummi Ship, the town never appeared near the Castle until I remembered, I'd only recently obtained the pass to the town. It had never shown up, because without it I wasn't allowed there. Maybe I'd take a short break when I got back to see if it showed up in my present now I had this pass.  
>It was a little strange for me, playing the follower instead of the leader, letting Ven do what I was probably too used to doing myself. Mostly I just kept to myself though, keeping a wary eye out for the Nobodies that inevitably showed up whenever the two of us were both nearby.<br>Almost as soon as we entered the main square, Pete showed up in his guise as Captain Justice. It could just be me, but I swear he seemed slightly bigger than I remembered.  
>After his flamboyant self-introduction (it was tempting to throw a spell or two at him, but as in Timeless River, there was little point punishing him for something he hadn't done yet) he seemed to notice me. I got only a briefly puzzled glance, then attention was back on Ven.<br>"Young fellow, do my hero-senses detect that you got troubles?" I tried not to laugh at him, but I think Ven might have caught on as Pete continued, "Just say the word, and Captain Justice will make all your problems disappear!"  
>"That's what he's there for," Ven answered, pointing at me just behind him. "But don't feel bad, you can still help me. I just wanna know what's going on here. Why it looks all festive and such."<br>Pete blinked, stared, then as if not quite believing this said, "That's it? Nothing else?" Ven nodded. "Well, it's all on account of the Dream Festival. Which is why I've made sure there's carnival stuff all over town. Make sure you see it for yourself, and remember – Captain Justice is the one who solved all your problems." He leaned down and behind one hand added, "That would be Justice with a J."  
>"Right. Got it," Ven told him, now also trying not to laugh at him.<br>Then Pete heard Donald's nephews having trouble with the ice cream machine, and he was off to 'help' them too. Ven and I shared a look, then burst out laughing.  
>"Is he for real?" Ven breathed when he managed to recover. "Or is he just..."<br>"Kind of dumb?" I replied. "You wouldn't believe some of the stupid things I've seen Pete do. Sometimes he has these moments of slight genius or great discovery, but usually he's just a bumbling fool."  
>"Pete? But he said-"<br>"Yeah, Pete's his real name. But he knows he's not going to win the festival award if he uses his real name, because he causes trouble."  
>"Right, the Dream Festival."<br>"Actually, I think it's called the Million Dreams award or something. I might be wrong though."  
>"Well, I'll find out. You can just keep on being like some kinda silent guard or something."<br>"What are you going to do?"  
>"I'm gonna see if I can help with their problem," he nodded toward where Pete had gone, and where Queen Minnie now was as well. "Coming?"<br>"Would you mind if I had a quick look around town?"  
>"Go ahead, like I said in Radiant Garden, I'll find ya before we leave."<br>Actually, the real reason I wasn't going with him was because I didn't want him to suggest I have a go on that ice cream machine. I remember having some choice words to say about it when I played through Ven's story on Birth By Sleep when I had trouble with it. Trying it for real was likely not going to be much easier.  
>There was also another reason. Two of them, in fact. Firstly, not being the leader had made me realize that all those who'd accompanied me had nearly always been limited to seeing places where I went. I'd never stopped to consider asking them if they wanted to see anywhere else.<br>The other reason was that I could feel... well, it's hard to describe. It's sort of like a tugging feeling, but without any physical pull. As if there was something here trying to get my attention. The only time I'd ever felt this was in Castle Oblivion, though I didn't remember it and now I write this I know it was not mentioned in the small book that chronicled that little adventure. Of course, while there it was Ven's heart trying to lead me back to his body.  
>But here and now, it did not tug toward him. I explored the town, paying attention to it as I went around. It seemed to be in some area that was beyond my reach, or at least through the various houses of the residents. In some places it seemed almost as if I was literally right on top of it.<br>Then I had a flash of insight, and recalled that every time I'd come here in the few times I'd played the game, there had been a manhole cover, and an area below ground in the same area Ven was, I noticed as I passed through, having a similar kind of trouble with the ice cream machine I did. It's all about the timings, and Ven lacked the kind of signs you or I get when playing the game, making it harder for him. He'd get it eventually, I trusted. I really did not want to have to try it myself. Being a bit tone-deaf doesn't help much with musical minigames like that.  
>Unversed showed up in that underground area, and once even a Sniper Nobody. Just one though, and it disappeared before I reached it. Some of the larger Unversed that appeared troubled me, particularly the Buckle Bruisers. Resorting to magic solved most of those irritations though. As I had found with several such Unversed, Zero Gravity was very useful for stopping them from defending against me.<br>The feeling grew continually stronger until I reached the odd machine down there, that I've never quite understood the reason for or what you're meant to do with it. It wasn't the machine that I was after though, but there appeared to be nothing there.  
>After a few moments, I found the exact spot where the feeling was coming from and waved one arm through it. Nothing happened. I tried using a Keyblade to unlock whatever was there, which also had no effect.<br>So with some apprehension, I overlapped where it came from. My view instantly changed to one that felt familiar, as if I had already been here, but I had no memory of it. I had seen it before though. This was a room in Castle Oblivion, the room where Naminé meets Sora, and of course me, before interning him into the pod, and where she also meets Riku just before he makes his choice to fight Ansem.  
>But the Land of Departure had not yet been destroyed, I knew that for certain. It was too early for that to happen. Something strange was going on here. I made to explore the room, but as soon as I stepped forward I cleared the spot I'd been overlapping, and I was back beside the machine again, with the tugging pulling me toward that spot again.<br>A second time I overlapped it, this time re-examining the room. It was still the same room, the pod was there, open and ready to accept it's occupant, or perhaps this was the room in the Old Mansion, just after I had reawakened.  
>"It's not," Naminé's voice told me. "You were right the first time."<br>"Come out where I can see you," I called out.  
>"I can't, Liam. I'm not really there."<br>"Then what is this?"  
>"It's one of your memories. I had to change it slightly so this would work, but I left the original memory intact – even if you can't remember it."<br>"So you called me here?"  
>"I had to. When Xigbar pushed you back eleven years, he forgot about Roxas – or maybe he just didn't care about Roxas. He sent you back there complete and whole, and that left Roxas with nothing but himself – no body, no form, just his mind. Not even a heart, because-"<br>"His feelings came from Ventus's heart kept safe in him while I was incomplete," I finished. "Does that mean Roxas is..." I couldn't finish. He's my Nobody, a good friend, and he'd gotten me out of a few situations, as you know.  
>"No. Kairi and I were able to save him by offering him sanctuary with us, similar to you keeping her heart safe, but we can't keep him like this for long. I'm using Kairi's ties to you so I can reach you while Riku guards us, and this isn't going to last long either. I had to reach you as soon as I could."<br>"Naminé, once I find Xigbar here I can force him to cooperate and get me directly to where you two are right now. He's got control on space as well as time, since they're the same thing. Then you can get Roxas back to me."  
>"It won't work, Liam. I... can't say why. You're in the past, and I don't dare affect the past, no more than you're trying to do. I know you'll understand that."<br>Naturally. Naminé had come into contact with my mind before, and through me and Kairi she was one of the few who knew way more than they should have. No doubt keeping contact with Roxas had only made that more so than before.  
>"That means you've got to find some way of getting him to me, here and now," I said. "Do you have such a way?"<br>"Liam, how am I talking with you? I can send more than just my voice and my mind to you. I still have some influence on you – like this memory. We need you to stay still as long as possible so I can sent Roxas to you."  
>I heard sounds coming closer, some of them possibly Unversed.<br>"Did you hear those sounds?" I asked, just in case it was this memory.  
>"I heard nothing. You'd better check – this link will hold stable until you overlap it again. And Liam..."<br>"I know. Be careful. Honestly, as if I haven't heard that enough times."  
>"Sorry," she said as I left the area her link affected. As I did so, the sounds became louder and clearer.<br>There were sounds of a distant fight coming from the surface, but I heard Ven warning someone away. I hoped he could handle himself with whatever opponents had manifested up there, because I had my own troubles down here to handle.  
>Heartless had appeared, and were trying to sneak toward me. They'd apparently frozen when I'd emerged from Naminé's link area, trying to pretend they were statues or something. There were only two kinds of Heartless, and I reasoned as they were of the Emblem variety, they had to have been sent back along with the Nobodies.<br>One Commander stood back, while a small army of Stealth Soldiers had been creeping forward. These Heartless I had not seen since the very first mistake I made in Traverse Town, and I knew they would troublesome opponents. Quick, relatively strong and with the ability to turn invisible, this could be a problem.  
>Then one of them fell over. Each of the others looked at it as it clattered to the ground, then the Commander made a gesture and they clanked loudly toward me.<br>The clanking came from the armour, similar to the normal Soldier's armour, and it was that which allowed me to find them even while invisible. I quickly handled them, listening intently to handle the invisible among them just as easily as the visible ones. They were more resistant to my attacks than I had expected, but I managed to fend them off without resorting to my magic.  
>Once they were all gone, the Commander charged me. Firaga sent into it's chest made it too vanish. Like each of the Stealth Soldiers, it had released a heart – which had disappeared in the same way they had since I had awakened, meaning they'd been harvested. But by someone here, or was Xigbar taking them forward in time to supply Kingdom Hearts?<br>I didn't stop to wonder though, heading up to the surface only to find Ven was finishing off a few remaining Nobodies. Apparently he'd learned the trick to Sniper Nobodies that you see Sora use as a reaction command. Once he was done, he winked at me, made sure Minnie and the three little ducks were alright, then they returned to trying to get the ice cream machine to work. I had been concerned over nothing, so returned to Naminé.  
>"It's safe now," I told her as I overlapped for the third time. "Ven and I ran them off."<br>"Ran who off?" she asked curiously.  
>"Oh, there were a few Heartless and some Nobodies. I reckon Xigbar must have brought them back with him."<br>"Um... yes. With him. That's... right."  
>"Naminé, is there something you're not – no, wait. There is something you're not telling me, you just can't tell me." I laughed, "Now I know how everyone else feels when around me."<br>"There is a good reason for it Liam. I wish I could tell you, but it'll have to wait until you return. Don't go anywhere there now, Kairi and I are getting Roxas to you. If you move, we could lose him for good."  
>"I don't suppose you know much about what's been going on there since I disappeared?"<br>"Very little. We saw the King come by and release your friends from some of the worlds you've been to. Some of them he sent back to their worlds, saying he was hoping you'd understand where he made the call not to involve them or tell them. Lee, I don't think he's going to let you take them with you to fight Xemnas."  
>"Well, I guess it would have been nice to have the choice, but he <em>is<em> the King... if he decides it's better that way, then I'll trust his judgement."  
>"I don't think you'll be able to take anyone extra with you anyway. How would they get around the part where Sora and Riku flew around on that Nobody anyway?"<br>"Well, I've picked up a Glider, just like Ventus, Aqua and Terra have. So I can take one more."  
>"Your armour won't come with you when you travel forward again."<br>Suddenly I understood why my armour hadn't responded to me before Xigbar sent me back – I lacked the Mark of Mastery. But now I had it...  
>"Don't worry. When I went to see Terra – I mean, as the Lingering Will – he returned my armour to me. I'll be able to do it, and I think if I use my Glider, Mickey might be the best one to have come with me."<br>"You'll have to ask him then. Don't discount anyone else though."  
><em>Yeah, like me,<em> Roxas's voice told me. _You know if we need to I can come out and give you a hand again.  
><em>"You're safe! I was... kinda worried about you," I admitted it kind of sheepishly.  
><em>Nice to see you too, Lee. Thanks, Naminé – I owe you and Kairi for this.<br>_"Good luck, you two," Naminé told us. "We'll see you when you get back."  
>As the link faded and restored the underground view again, I felt Roxas rummaging around in my memories.<br>_You have been busy, haven't you?_ he remarked. _Nicely handled, by the way.  
><em>"For what, exactly?"  
><em>The Mark of Mastery exam. I'm sorta watching what you've been getting up to in the same order, though I'm skipping the more boring bits. You're good with your memories, do you know that? I can tell if one of your memories is a bit harder to see, the chances are there's nothing interesting in them.<br>_"How fascinating. You know I'm going to have to be careful when I talk to you again – Ven doesn't know about you. For that matter, no one here does."  
><em>I know. But I'm used to it, and anyway, it'll give me time to catch up. Nice Keyblade too,<em> he added absently, evidently meaning Gilded Light.  
>Now I had Roxas back with me, at least I had some welcome company I didn't have to watch what I said around, and the stream of advice he usually gave me would undoubtedly start flowing again soon. I felt much better having him around again.<p> 


	81. The Games, Again

**A/N:** Thanks to AKAAkira for bringing it to my attention, the missing piece of the first Land of Dragons visit has finally been found and put where it's meant to be. You can find it at the start of Chapter 30, Saving the Emperor. I have no idea how I managed to miss noticing it before. Sorry about that people.

* * *

><p>When I returned outside again, this time with Roxas, Ven was no longer at the ice cream machine. Perhaps he'd figured it out and was done with it, but at least I knew I wouldn't have to look for him given his earlier comment. Besides, he could handle himself by now, he didn't really need me around all the time.<br>So I wandered around looking for him, mostly because there was little else to do, and pestered Roxas to find out what had been happening in my absence.  
><em>I didn't get much of a chance to see what followed, <em>he told me as we passed the fruitball area. _I saw Jiminy get left behind along with your copy of the book.  
><em>"Oh no. I hope no one looks into it, if they do..."  
><em>Don't worry about it for now, you've got plenty of time before that. Xigbar seemed satisfied with your disappearance and called on a load of Nobodies to join him in the attack on the others.<br>_"Xigbar? But how could he be there too, when I've been seeing him here?"  
><em>Now that's a troubling idea. Maybe one of them... isn't Xigbar.<br>_"Don't you dare suggest that, Roxas. I need him to get back."  
><em>What if it's true though? We could be forced to wait what, ten, eleven years.<br>_"I'll find I way," I muttered grimly. "Even if I have to appeal to Kingdom Hearts itself, I'll find a way."  
>"Who're you talking to?" Ven asked, coming up from behind.<br>"Huh? Oh... I was just talking to myself. It happens sometimes."  
>"Sure you haven't just knocked your head about one too many times?"<br>_I like him,_ Roxas laughed. _Can we keep him?  
><em>"Never mind," I told them both, though it wasn't really apparent. "Are you done here?"  
>"Pretty much. Wish Aqua had come too, I heard someone say they saw Terra already, but no one's seen her. I guess I just missed Terra."<br>"You'll catch up with him again for sure, don't worry."  
>"It's not catching up with him I'm worried about... you really sure there was nothing you could have done?"<br>"Darkness isn't something that's easy to handle, Ven. Even I still have trouble with it sometimes. Everyone has to deal with it in their own way."  
><em>Are you going to stand around talking all day, or are you actually going to leave?<br>_I ignored Roxas's comment as Ven looked up to the stars again.  
>"I hope I never find out what it's like for you and him," he told me, then went apart a ways and created the portal we'd follow to his next choice of worlds.<p>

While in the Lanes Between, I had an unexpected sight. Ven was just ahead of me at the time, and Roxas was still busy catching up with what I'd gone through, so neither of them noticed what I did.  
>Vanitas, who being of the darkness himself had no need of a Glider to go from world to world like we did, simply floated up beside me with only a faint aura of darkness that I presumed was how he controlled his movements here.<br>"What are you doing?" I hissed to him. "You heard what I said in Radiant Garden, you're not meant to see me until-"  
>"I know, I know! Do you think I didn't consider that before I came looking for you? I want your advice."<br>"We've been through this Vanitas, there's too much at stake for me to risk altering things any more than I already have to."  
>"Just hear me out, will you? You're worse than he is sometimes," he complained, vaguely indicating Ventus. "I overheard Xehanort talking to some other people. One of them called himself Braig, the other Xigbar. The three of them are working together or something, but that's not what I want to ask you about. Xehanort confirmed something Xigbar said, something about using me like he's using Ventus."<br>"And?"  
>"Well isn't it obvious? I want to know whether I should just let him or not, and don't you tell me it's up to me."<br>"Why not? That's sound advice as it is. If you really have a problem with it, go talk to them about it, don't come to me. You should know I'm not going to reveal much."  
>"If you don't start helping me out soon, I'm going to tell Xehanort I know exactly how to find you, and if he gives me a way to beat you finally, I'm going to take the chance," he threatened.<br>"What do you suggest I do, Vanitas?" I demanded of him. "Risk changing the future to the point where I cease to exist? Change the outcome of events and manipulate them the way I want them to be? That's not who I am, and it never will be. I may have altered the timeline just be being here, but I'm not going to let my presence change it any more than I have to."  
>"You're... from the future." I hadn't intended to reveal that to him, but perhaps I could make some use of it.<br>"And so is Xigbar. I suggest you don't give him any trust. Now you'd better go before Ventus notices you."  
>Vanitas dropped back out of sight.<br>_Enlightening conversation,_ Roxas remarked. _Not to mention his coming to you for advice like that... very interesting.  
><em>"I'd rather he didn't," I muttered. "If Ven had seen, there'd have been some awkward questions to answer."

We landed in Olympus Coliseum, though yet another different part of the world than I had last entered by. First it had just been the courtyard outside, then it was the Underworld, and now we were in place that's just known as the 'Town near Thebes'.  
>"I remember this place," I murmured as Ven and I walked toward the path that lead to the Coliseum itself.<br>"You've been here before? You never mentioned it to me."  
>"I knew you'd be coming here, that's why. I didn't want to influence what you thought about it in advance. I wonder if we'll meet Hades?"<br>"Who's Hades?"  
>"The God of the Underworld, Lord of the Dead, and a poor loser among other things."<br>A new voice, familiar of course to me, caught our attention. "Oy, the kid's relentless," Phil sighed, walking along the top of a wall. Ven shared a look with me, then decided to head over and meet him. Since I'd chosen not to keep my armour this time, I held back this time.  
>"Whatcha doin' there?" Ven asked Phil when he got near, scaring the little satyr with a startled scream.<br>"I told ya, I'm booked solid. N O spells forget it!"  
>"Uh... I think you got me mixed up with someone else."<br>"Huh? And who in Halicarnassus are you? Can't you see I'm busy here."  
>"Nope, not really. You just sorta looked like you were walking along."<br>"Excuse me," another voice said behind me. A thin young man in a toga hurried past me. I stared after him for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh. Knowing Hercules as I remembered him, this was a bit of a strange look for him.  
>"Hey, Phil!" he called. "I'm all signed up!"<br>"Alright Herc, I hear ya! Now would ya keep it down already."  
>Yet another person pushed past me with a brief, "Excuse me," and the soldier who was of course Zack joined them.<br>"Aha! I knew it. 'fess up, I asked around and everyone says you're the guy. The trainer of heroes."  
>"True Heroes," I corrected, having given up and followed.<br>"Really?" Ven asked, now also interested. "You can teach that?"  
>"Course he can," Zack answered offhand. "C'mon Phil, please. I really wanna be a hero."<br>Phil tried to back away, but with the four of us in attendance he was cornered.  
>"Look, we've been through this. I got two words for you – student-teacher ratio."<br>"Three words," I corrected absently, as Ven also counted the words and noticed the mistake. I think Phil actually knows he's not keeping to two words, and does it just to confuse people.  
>"I already got my hands full with this one. C'mon, Herc. Time we got started."<br>"I'm low maintenance, I swear!" Zack insisted, following them.  
>"Any moment now," I murmured to Ven, who looked puzzled for a moment. Then the Unversed showed up in front of Hercules and Phil.<br>"You knew?" he asked me.  
>"I had a fair idea. Go help them out, Ven. I'd get involved, but I don't want Phil to notice me too much. I'll back you up if you need it, but... well, I believe in you, Ven. You'll be fine."<br>_Nice touch, _Roxas told me as Zack and Hercules joined Ven to deal with the Unversed. Hercules had a little trouble, but this was only to be expected, it being before his training with Phil.  
>"I figure if he has people that have confidence in him, it'll help him get over needing me around for Vanitas."<br>_Yeah, I saw that little fight you had with him. Didn't you stop to think which spells weren't going to work on him?  
><em>"I was surprised, and you know I don't deal well when surprised." A Scrapper Unversed managed to escape the main fight and came running toward me. "You wanted to see me?" I asked it, then casually destroyed it with a fireball to the face.  
><em>Charming.<br>_The Unversed were decimated between the three of them without any further need for me to incinerate more escapees, and Phil informed them of the change of plans that'd allow Zack the chance to train under him thanks to the Games. Hercules was a little disappointed when he heard there would be no training sessions for him in the interests of fairness, but was determined to show Phil he had what it took.  
>Ven also tried to get in, much like I had done originally. But with 'Captain Eager', as Phil named Zack, having taken the last spot, he was unfortunately left out. At least he didn't have to resort to Hades to take part anyway.<br>"Cheer up," Ven told him. "So you gotta fight a couple of matches, no big deal."  
>"A few matches without Phil's training though," Hercules pointed out.<br>"Well, want me to help you train instead? I'm Ventus. Just call me Ven though." He held out one hand.  
>"Thanks, Ven. I'm Hercules, or just Herc."<br>"Nice to meet ya, Herc. I just know you're gonna do fine." He glanced back to me for a moment then added, "Especially since I believe in ya. And I'm told that helps a lot."  
>"Thanks... I'm gonna head up to the Coliseum. Want to come on up with me?"<br>Ven didn't need to look to me again. He knew I'd turn up if he needed me, and that I had faith in his ability to handle himself.  
>"Sure thing. Lead the way."<br>_Sore loser at six o' clock,_ Roxas warned me.  
>"Nice to see you again, Hades," I said out loud.<br>"Have we met before?" he asked.  
>"In about ten years time, yes."<br>"Well now... you're more interesting than I thought."  
>"Don't bother Hades. You don't have anything I want, and if you want something off me, you'll need something to give me in return."<br>"Entry to the games? Oh, I know! How about being rid of that darkness in you?"  
>"As if I didn't see that coming. I've no interest in being in the games, at least not yet. As to my darkness... I'll keep it the way it is."<br>"You're a troublesome little kid, you know that," Hades told me, coming around in front of me. I let the 'little kid' pass this time only because I was in an unusually good mood.  
>"And you're a troublesome little God. Like I said, Hades. You've got nothing I want."<br>"Oh, come now," he chuckled mirthlessly. "I _am_ a God... I can get anything. And I mean anything. Just name your price."  
>"What do you think I am, a mercenary?" I asked with amusement. "If, and that's the biggest if ever, I think of something you can get me... then I'll consider letting you know. But the chances aren't in your favour," I added, then decided to head up to the Coliseum myself.<br>"We'll see about that," I heard him mutter behind me. He's nothing if not predictable.


	82. Fuelling the Fires of Darkness

I had expected Zack to come to me and ask me to train him like Ven was Hercules, but I was proved wrong. I didn't once see him at all until the games began, and most of that time I spent in the stands at the Coliseum. It was nice to have a few minutes to kick back and relax instead of constantly having to fend off Unversed or Heartless or whatever it was this time. Sometimes, you just gotta have a break.  
>Phil turned up to watch Ven help Hercules train, though he kept to the far side of the stands to me. Evidently my keeping mostly out of things earlier had put me out of his interests, which suited me fine. Out of all those at Olympus Coliseum, only Hercules ever recalled my presence here in the past.<br>When the games themselves started though, Ven talked to Phil to get us both prime spots to watch from so we could see the matches easily. Hercules, though he was far from the powerhouse I was used to seeing, was able to hold his own, and Zack was clearly no mere amateur either.  
>Ven, focused completely on the final match between the two of them, did not notice me slip away when I noticed Hades keeping just out of sight, beckoning to me. What he wanted now was anyone's guess.<br>"I hear you're a bit of a fighter too, kid," he told me. "Thought you should know – there's some monsters showing up down in the town."  
>"That's it?" I asked him sceptically, knowing this was probably just a ruse for whatever plan he was working on this time.<br>"Well, if you won't believe me, believe that stubborn little goat who'll be showing up soon to tell everyone about it."  
>I gave him a suspicious look, checking on Ven and the undisturbed match going on, then decided it couldn't hurt to take a look.<br>_I don't like this, Liam. He's up to something,_ Roxas told me on the way back down.  
>"You're telling me. But what? Why would he give me advance warning?"<br>_One way to find out. And don't ask me, I haven't been getting anything at all since I got back to you.  
><em>"Inconvenient," I murmured, but continued on. "Is it just me, or is it getting cold?"  
><em>It's just you. I feel fine.<br>_"How can you feel anything? You're a part of me."  
><em>You're forgetting something. Those clothes you've got – they're still the ones the good fairies gave you. You don't feel either heat or cold with them remember.<br>_"Maybe something happened to that? I can definitely feel a chill."  
>Now, think for a moment. What else had I come into contact with that gave me a cold, chilling feeling?<br>Roxas figured out the answer to that first.  
><em>Liam, your darkness – something's making it flare up.<br>_I stopped dead. The chill didn't. Roxas was right, something was encouraging my darkness to flare. The whisperings I could usually only hear while I used Anti-Form were starting to creep into audibility again, and this time I wasn't using that form. Trying to keep hold of it and quell it did no good, so I reluctantly decided to ignore it for now and keep going.  
>The town square where Ven and I had appeared now contained a small swarm of Unversed, in various kinds and varieties, some I hadn't seen before, some I knew would give me trouble. Leaning on the wall just beside the way I'd come in was of course, Hades.<br>"You made it at last. What do you think of them? Interesting little creatures, aren't they?"  
>"What are you up to, Hades?"<br>"Do I need a reason to watch someone with such potential fight?" he asked, examining one hand. "Well? Aren't you going to save the day, like you Keyblade people always do?"  
>I considered that for a moment, then the swarm of Unversed.<br>"No," I told him. "They're not threatening anyone. They're just... there. I don't see any reason to worry about them. Why destroy Unversed if they're not doing anything?"  
>"Oh, did I forget to mention? If you leave them alone too long, they're going to storm the Coliseum. Your friend wouldn't like to hear you just let them now, would he?"<br>He had me over a barrel there. Ven would have trouble accepting I'd just do something like that.  
>I muttered a few choice words about Hades under my breath, then descended on the Unversed. The Unversed in turn, turned on me, quickly surrounding me.<br>I caught sight of Hades several times while I tried to hold them off as best I could. He seemed much more interested now I was actually fighting, and every time I destroyed an Unversed, he made a curious gesture with one hand – similar to the one Master Xehanort had done at the Mark of Mastery exam.  
><em>It's him! <em>Roxas exclaimed. _He's redirecting the Unversed you destroy into your darkness!  
><em>"I don't see anything I can do about that," I grunted, using both Keyblades to shove a Buckle Bruiser bouncing off an incoming Tank Toppler, the Tank Toppler's course altered so it detonated amongst a group of Hareraiser Unversed. Effective strategically, but not good for the darkness Hades was supplying me with.  
>But with the Unversed focused on me, I saw little else I could do. The darkness grew to the point where it started to flare visibly at times now. I was losing my control over it, and that was not an appealing idea.<br>As I had before in the face of an overwhelming opposition, I called on Roxas to throw Magic Hour at them, the shared light between the two of us preventing the destroyed Unversed from pushing up my darkness any further, but once it was over with I still had the darkness Hades had given me before to contend with. To make matters worse, more Unversed were starting to pile in.  
>The focus was no longer on me though, because Ven had turned up to help, closely followed by Hercules and then finally Zack. This eased the trouble I was having dealing with them, but with the three of them destroying Unversed as well with Hades in attendance, I was starting to suffer badly.<br>Ven caught on first when it became too much for me to handle, and I had to use a Keyblade just to support myself. He quickly warned off Zack and Hercules, explaining what he'd figured out.  
>Hades meanwhile vanished, only to appear right beside me.<br>"Having fun yet kid?" he asked solicitously.  
>"Get your hands off my darkness," I growled at him.<br>"What was that? More Unversed to fight? One more order of Unversed coming right up." True to that, he disappeared and yet another swarm of Unversed appeared. These things were endless!  
><em>Liam, you've got to vent some of that darkness,<em> Roxas told me insistently. _You've got to put it to use, not leave it held up like this. You'll be safe from most of the effects if you go through Anti-Form, but you've got to do something with it.  
><em>"I need time before I use another form," I muttered. I could have activated it, but there's always some time after using one form where the others are underpowered, and as I'd recently borrowed Roxas's power, which counted as a form...  
><em>Then do something with it, before it gets too much. You really don't want this to overtake you.<br>_He had a point.  
>"Get back!" I roared at the others. "I don't want to catch you by accident!" That may not have been the best thing to say, in hindsight. I think it's one of the few times Ven's looked afraid of me. I can't say I blame him though.<br>If I was going to use the darkness to defeat these Unversed, no doubt with Hades trying to continually resupply that same darkness, I was going to have to pull out some of the most powerful things I had – and ones that Merlin had been highly reluctant to let me learn.  
>Dark Haze was by far the strongest ability I had, but as it drained my magic completely, I'd probably only get one chance at it before I had to resort to Dark Aura, since the Dark Firaga, like other such spells, also needed magic.<br>With some effort I pushed myself back up, aimed toward the largest concentration of Unversed, then launched into Dark Haze. Everything I saw became a hazy blur for a moment as I was pulled into the center of that concentration, then I felt the darkness flare again, this time flaring out from the two Keyblades as I made broad, sweeping strikes that caught as much as possible. If the darkness-enhanced strikes didn't destroy them, the chances were they'd get caught by the doom effect.  
>Sure enough, as I fought my way clear of them, several of them seemed to be destroyed without cause. The doom was at work already.<br>But the swarm had closed ranks around me again, and I was forced to resort to Dark Aura to clear an area around me. Even that wasn't too effective, since it's intended to be used on a singular target, and not a group of them.  
>It bought me time and prevented most of the Unversed from harming me though, and by the time I'd finished a second one I was ready to pull out Anti-Form on them.<br>The chills were far more evident after I had called on that form, and the whispers were more of a roar. I had to get rid of more of this darkness. I still don't like using it to excess, but I had no choice. I forced it to work for me, using it as much as I could to enhance any attack I made, get out of danger, and even once cast a Dark Curaga – not a recommended idea, by the way, it'll heal you but it feels like you're on fire while it heals you.  
>With Anti-Form limiting Hades' attempts to further influence my darkness, the chills and whispers started to fade back down to normal levels with every Unversed slain. Determination and the will not to give into it only helped me overcome this.<br>I took out a considerable amount of the Unversed swarm in that form, managing to drive them away from the others. When I came close to them to deal with those nearby, Ven seemed to be concerned enough by what he was seeing that he readied his Keyblade in case he had to take me on himself. Can you blame him?  
>I ran out of time before I could finish them off though, and what was left were some of the tougher Unversed. Having used so much darkness, I was exhausted, without any magic left. It was too soon to use another drive form, and there seemed to be nothing else I had to call on.<br>_Your links, _Roxas said.  
>"What?" I replied wearily.<br>_The dimension links, Liam. Aqua gave you them when she borrowed Kairi's wayfinder. Use one and it'll restore some of your strength so you can finish them off.  
><em>Of course. I'd completely forgotten I even had them. I hoped that in using any of them, none of my darkness would reach them, but who can tell what will happen with the kind of magic that makes dimension links work?  
>Given that I had no magic left and these were tough Unversed to handle, I elected to use Terra's link with me. It turned out to be as simple as willing them to come to my aid, and with that came a rush of strength, not to mention some magic too. Perhaps I could have used Aqua's one after all.<br>I lost the ability to call on my second Keyblade though, which was still Winner's Proof. Evidently when linked with someone who could only use one, I was similarly limited. As if to make up for it though, it felt as if I had some of Terra's power behind me. I made slower but stronger attacks than usual – almost as if it were Terra fighting through me.  
>Now Ven and the others rejoined the fight, clearing up the last of them with me. With their help and Terra's dimension link, even these tougher customers were easily handled. I had to hope there were no lasting effects on either myself or Terra from Hades' meddling.<p> 


	83. Seen and Unseen

Since I had kept mostly to myself while in Olympus Coliseum, once Ven had made sure I really was alright, besides still being somewhat worn out, he left me to recover and wait for him while he talked with Zack and Hercules, then Phil just after.  
>I just found a nearby low wall and leaned back to rest. I don't like having to overdo things like I'd had to. Roxas had other ideas though.<br>_Hey, Liam, _he said thoughtfully. _Who's the kid in the alleyway just opposite us?  
><em>I glanced up to see better. It was the same alleyway Zack and Hercules had come out of earlier, coming past me when they did so.  
>"You're seeing things, Roxas," I replied, seeing it devoid of any activity, let alone even one kid. "There's no one there."<br>_What? You're pulling my leg, seriously. He sticks out like a sore thumb with those headphones.  
><em>"I'm telling you, there's no one there. That alley is empty. The only people I see here are Ven, Phil, Zack and Herc."  
><em>And I'm telling you, he's right there. He looks a bit like you actually, but... sorta different. I don't know... why can't you see him?<br>_"Who cares? Unless he's doing anything we ought to stop, let him be invisible or whatever."  
>I could tell Roxas was puzzled by this, with good reason. If I could see something he couldn't, he'd be concerned too. But headphones, here? Whoever Roxas was seeing clearly wasn't a native, but I knew of no one that also travelled between worlds that wore headphones.<br>When Ven rejoined me, he was in high spirits. He enjoyed getting out to meet new people and see new worlds. Perhaps if Eraqus had not kept him in the Land of Departure, perhaps if he'd taken Ven and gone with him... but we'll never know how that would have turned out.  
>"You feeling any better?" he asked me cheerfully.<br>"I could do with longer," I chuckled. "It's going to take time to get over that. Hades had better keep clear of me though. If I see him again..."  
>"I reckon he'll have learned his lesson," Ven told me, ever the optimist. If only he knew about the other times I'd been to the Coliseum. "Anyway, I'm ready to go. Want me to go slow for ya?" he teased.<br>"There may be no time for that," a voice I instantly recognised as Yen Sid's interrupted me before I even got to reply. It had emanated from a red stone hanging in the air. "Master Sora, I must ask you to come to my tower. Ventus... I apologise for having to leave you without him for a time. Do not forget you may call on his power as you do your other friends."  
>Ven looked surprised when Yen Sid addressed him, but that quickly turned to interest at this. "Huh? You mean... like he did Terra's?"<br>"Remember when Aqua borrowed the Wayfinder I showed you?" I told him. "She made it possible then. Who knows, maybe if you borrow my power, you'll get to take two Keyblades for a time too. Try it and see." Then to the hovering gem, "I'll be right with you, Yen Sid." Then I paused and added, "Do I have to go through Twilight Town ag- I mean, to reach you, or should I just land at your tower?"  
>"You may choose whichever way you wish," Yen Sid replied. "There is no need to rush."<br>"I understand. I'll see you as soon as I know the way."  
>"This gem will act as your guide once I am done using it. Be wary in the Lanes Between, Master Sora. There are forces at work I do not recognise." Then the stone's glow faded, and I caught it as it dropped out of the air.<br>"Guess I gotta leave you to it for a bit, Ven. You take care of yourself too, hear?"  
>"Sure thing. I got you believing in me, remember? I'll handle anything that comes my way easily!"<br>"I know you will. I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can."  
><em>You care about him a great deal, don't you?<em> Roxas asked me as I started to leave.  
>"Knowing what's going to happen to him... I can at least make sure he gets the chance to be happy before it does happen," I murmured, not wanting Ven to overhear. "Besides... you and I... we're both protecting his heart remember. It's kinda a big responsibility, having to protect something so important."<p>

The Lanes Between seemed at first to be no different to usual, and offered no suggestion of the reasons for Yen Sid's warnings. However, while it wasn't not exactly a long distance between Olympus Coliseum and his tower, there was still enough that anything could have happened.  
>As it happened, 'anything' did happen. Along the way, I caught the edges of what would eventually become the Asteroid Sweep, the Gummi route that would lead to the Land of Dragons. The asteroids here were much larger than they had been when I passed that way in the Gummi Ship, and far more numerous. Several of them intersected the portal I was following to the tower, forcing me to dodge quickly aside, and even risk falling out of the portal entirely where space was thin between the edges and the asteroids.<br>I had no idea what would happen if I did fall out of the portal, or if I even could, but it seemed preferable to being hit by even some of the smaller rocks, as I got caught with one and was almost knocked head-first into a larger one by the force it had behind it.  
>The smaller ones – small being relative here, as 'small' was still larger than me – seemed to be moving far more than the rest, as if something was guiding them. Clearly something was indeed at work here, trying to impede my progress.<br>Then I had little choice in what came next. A massive asteroid, battered by many smaller ones, lumbered into the portal and completely blocked my route off. Strangely, it did not tilt around as others did, remaining almost completely still. With no easy way around it, I decided I was going to have to land on it instead, and see if I could find a way through.  
>The surface of the asteroid was pockmarked with many craters of varying sizes. Some even dug small trenches where a series of impacts had hit in a row. To further add to this strangeness, they all seemed to lead toward the top of the asteroid, where it did not actually fully obstruct the edges of my portal – but neither did it offer enough of a gap to allow me to leave either. It seemed suspiciously like this massive crater was... an arena.<br>A massive boom shook the entire asteroid, and I glanced back to see a smaller one had impacted the entry to this arena crater and become fused to the main asteroid. I was now trapped in here. But what was I supposed to do?  
>With my Glider gone when I'd landed, I was able even in the portal to take out both Keyblades, though a quick test of Reflect proved my magic was still useless here. So now I was armed and still armoured in case the insides of the portal were harmful, I took to the center of the arena warily.<br>At the center was a kind of dome, like an inverted crater. As soon as I stepped onto it, I got a reaction from this arena at last. Bit Snipers, a kind of Pureblood Heartless that I had previously only seen when battling the World of Chaos and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, appeared en masse.  
>Well, even without magic, they weren't all that tough to beat, and I was armed with two Keyblades this time even if I couldn't glide around as I had done in that last time. Here in the Lanes Between I could jump much easier though – evidently gravity had less effect here, as it does in normal outer-space.<br>Clearly this wasn't meant to be the whole point of this arena though, since the Bit Snipers were defeated without even a single one managing to get to me. With the last one down, a second round of Heartless appeared, a mix of Shadows and Neoshadows. I fought off several such rounds of these, with each one growing more troublesome as there were more and more Neoshadows, and fewer Shadows.  
>But they were always Pureblood Heartless. Perhaps, the Heartless native to this time instead of ones brought back by Xigbar?<br>When the last round of these Heartless, consisting entirely of Neoshadows, had been fought off, no further Heartless appeared. I quickly scanned the arena and the area above, looking for any I might have missed. I hadn't, but I did notice that the far edge of the arena had more of a gap than when I'd entered. The impact of the asteroid that blocked my way in had also started to cause this one to turn. Given enough time, it would create enough of a gap to let me leave safely again.  
>I made for that slowly growing gap, but before I was even half way there, I was stopped by Roxas.<br>_Wait, Liam. There's something coming. Get any closer and you won't have time to defend yourself.  
><em>"Something a little more useful would be nice," I replied.  
><em>I'm still not getting much. I'll let you know as soon as I have anything you can use.<br>_It was a nervous wait, knowing that there was something there I couldn't see (Perhaps that boy Roxas had seen again?) that would bar my path if I made any move for the growing gap that was my way out.  
>Maybe if I could wait it out long enough, I'd be able to recall my Glider and escape before whatever was there caught me. But 'maybe' tends to be unreliable though, and leaves false hope in it's place when it turns out not to happen.<br>In this case, that happened. The whatever-it-was that Roxas could tell was there made it's appearance, appearing in a large, dark flash above the arena to drop do it's floor in front of me with a great crash that caused dust to rise in clouds around its feet.  
>I don't know what its called. I think it's a Heartless, and I'm fairly sure it's another Pureblood Heartless. All I can tell you is that it looks like a giant purple wolf, with some nasty looking claws, a kind of red mane, and blue markings over its head. It had a shorter muzzle than a wolf, and a barbed tail. There were chains from it's forelegs that ended in hooks, almost like grappling hooks.<br>I think it was a Heartless because it shared the same yellow eyes all Heartless seem to have. But beyond that I wasn't really too concerned; I could feel a great darkness in this beast, and I could see it had me in the sights.  
>I was going to have to hold it off long enough to escape this asteroid, if I couldn't defeat it myself.<p> 


	84. Yen Sid's Warning

The Heartless beast was blocking my path, and a few attempts to move to either side saw it continue to do so. This was no ordinary Heartless, it certainly had some intelligence behind it. I was going to have to fight, if not to defeat it then to escape from it.  
>The trouble was, this big brute was quicker than I was, and could undoubtedly capable of a great deal of harm. It proved that point when I tried to get close, swinging one foreleg so the chains swung around, and the hooks on the end not only entangled me in them, but when it stomped on the chain with another foot it flung me away to the outer edge of the arena, into the great rock that had barred the way in. Even armoured, that still hurt a lot.<br>Ordinarily, I would have unleashed every last drop of magic I could use, but I was still technically in the Lanes Between, and it did not function here. Darkness would have worked, but Roxas casually advised me that as there was much more of it here, after my recent massive use of it I was more likely to cause a small explosion instead.  
>Since I was armoured, drive forms were completely out of the question, leaving me with a dimension link if I needed it, but otherwise I had little except the trusty Keyblades.<br>I had plenty of space between it and me now, so what else could I do but charge it? It remained in my path, but interestingly did not advance to hold me back. Instead, it sent a massive fireball at me with a roar, followed by a storm of small dark balls – not to be confused with the Heartless of the same name, these apparently harmless balls quickly descended, and once close to the ground they also rapidly expanded into force fields that each conducted a jolt of Thunder through me on contact. Not to mention it also created a considerable maze between me and it.  
>They were considerably low though, so once I located a clear enough area I simply took to the air once more. This turned out to be a good move for avoiding the fields, but a bad move once close to the Heartless, which jumped, flipping in the air to lash at the Glider with the tail to separate it from me, then kicking to send both it and me back to the familiar rock at the arena entrance.<br>When it landed again, it shook the entire asteroid, considerably speeding up the slow tilt that was opening a gap. If I left it long enough, this entire arena would face back out into the portal I'd created, and unless this beast could also traverse the Lanes Between it would be left behind, unable to attack.  
>But I still had to wait, and it was far from harmless. It could send fireballs at me that tracked me and also passed easily through the fields it had created, and as I navigated the fields to recover my Glider, now once again in Keyblade form and stuck into the arena side, I quickly discovered that a second shower of dark energy balls would erase the existing ones and replace them with a new arrangement.<br>Roxas pointed out I was being stupid, something he actually does fairly often, and reminded me that as my Glider had reverted to Gilded Light, I could just summon it back to me. I felt a little thick for not thinking of that, but I did have a fireball on my tail after all.  
>The rest of the battle was not entirely a fight as such, it was more a case of baiting the Heartless, flying at it to get it to leap at me again, then trying to avoid the tail, feet and hooks until it landed, once more advancing the asteroid's progress. After the first few times also gave me close ups of the arena's edges again, and once sent me skimming painfully over the top of several fields, I finally figured out the ideal means of avoiding it.<br>I don't think it was aware it was inadvertently helping me, at least not until I noticed just how far the gap had opened and changed course, angling sharply upwards to finally continue my course. It gave a roar after me, as if challenging me to come back and actually fight it properly but it didn't try to send anything after me. A glance back as the asteroid faded into the distance and I spotted it leave the same way it had come.

The rest of my trip to Yen Sid's tower was thankfully uneventful after that encounter. I was tempted to stop by Twilight Town and see what it had been like ten years before anyone else stopped by, but decided to pass on that and see what had prompted him to call on me so unexpectedly.  
>I landed outside his tower, at the same point I'd disembarked Yen Sid's train. A few Unversed had showed up at the base of the tower, milling around fairly aimlessly. They were destroyed not by me, but by a short rain of bolts that could have come from only two things – Xigbar, or his Snipers.<br>To my dismay, it was the latter. I really wanted to get my hands on Xigbar by now, and the brief irritability at his lack of appearance meant the Snipers followed the local Unversed with only a few sharp spells aimed for them.  
>None of that had really been necessary, but as usual my habit of eliminating enemies before I move on was showing itself again. Normally I guess it's not such a bad thing for you playing the games, helps you level up and such. For me all it really got me was a little more munny.<br>Anyway, once inside his tower I ran across a little curiosity. When I'd visited for the first time, I'd had to ascend several staircases that passed through other rooms in the tower along the way. This time though, I only had to go up the first set of stairs, and I was in the tower room. Perhaps it had been introduced as a means to prevent Pete's Heartless from reaching him?  
>Yen Sid was not in the tower room when I arrived. I hesitated, then decided to explore a little, though the only two rooms I could find were the same ones I'd been in last time – the short corridor and the room where the three fairies had given me the new clothes. The various mirrors for each of my Drive forms were not present, perhaps because it was too early.<br>When I returned to the main tower room, Yen Sid was at the window.  
>"You called for me?" I asked him, joining him.<br>"Indeed. I had to speak of things you wished not to have widely known. Eraqus and I have preserved your secrets insofar as possible, but others have not been so mindful of your wishes."  
>"You mean Xigbar's been interfering with the timeline."<br>"And with others. It would seem that Master Xehanort has become aware of your true origins, and through him Vanitas and Braig."  
>"I told Vanitas, actually," I corrected him. "I hadn't intended to, but I didn't tell him all that much really."<br>"There are... differences, nonetheless. I cannot see what should have been, but thanks to your presence here I have been able to identify events which have been altered – key points that do not quite fit as they should into the puzzle of Time."  
>"Interesting metaphor," I noted absently. "So which of these events encouraged you to call on me?"<br>"Enchanted Dominion has been visited by all three of Master Eraqus's true apprentices... and as such it's part in their stories is limited in the near future. What little I have been able to tell suggests that Master Aqua will encounter it one more time in another realm, and the world's movement into that realm will be caused by a certain resident Maleficent. However... that event will not happen."  
>"Why not? Something stopping it?"<br>"Precisely. There is an individual in that world who, like you, is displaced in Time. I can tell little about him; his displacement and something in his nature is barring my attempts. But I can tell you that should you allow him to run unchecked in Enchanted Dominion..."  
>"It'll never go to the Realm of Darkness... and my story might never happen."<br>"So that is the other realm I saw it in... the dark realm on the other side of light."  
>"You mean you didn't know?"<br>"I had not yet begun to investigate. I thought as this involves another from the future, you should be warned of this before I looked in more detail."  
>"Then I probably shouldn't have told you in advance... I've been trying not to give out future knowledge where possible."<br>"A wise choice, but perhaps you could consider the greater good-"  
>"No," I cut him off, looking sharply at him. "I won't risk the future just to give myself an advantage. I want it to happen exactly as it's meant to."<br>"As you wish. Should you change your mind though..."  
>"I know where to find you. Now it's my turn to ask you for something."<br>"I anticipated this. I regret that while I could send you through Time, it would not only be a one-way trip, it would only reach the past – my past that is. I cannot push you forward in time, and from what I have observed... you may have to wait the full time until you reach the moment you were pushed back."  
>"I was afraid of that. Just mean I'm going to have to persuade Xigbar to get me back then. Thanks for the warning, Yen Sid. When Ven gets here, tell him if I haven't caught up with him by then, he'll see me for certain in the Keyblade Graveyard."<br>"Sora," he called me back. "Indulge me. Sora is not truly your name, is it?"  
>"How did you know?"<br>"Some of the most powerful magic one may use, whether harmful or protective, requires the knowledge of the target's name. When I attempted to use a protective spell on you, to set Master Eraqus's mind at rest, it was instead directed to a young boy on another world."  
>"Eraqus asked you to do that? Why?"<br>"You would have to ask him that. I have not told him you did not receive the intended effects of that spell, and having seen how you handled yourself since I felt it safe to leave it thus. But perhaps..." he left it hanging.  
>"Liam," I answered. "Something will happen to Sora in about ten years time, and he and I will trade places. That's about all I want to say."<br>"Then I gather you felt you had reason to continue to use his name?"  
>I nodded, "When Sora's world falls into the darkness... watch what happens. I think you'll understand better from seeing it for yourself. Maybe if you manage to watch before he and I swap places, you'll even notice when it happens."<br>"Perhaps so. Be wary all the same, Liam. I will respect your choice to continue to be known as Sora, and will continue to watch for other events like this which require your attention."  
>"I appreciate that. If I don't see you before... see you in ten years time."<br>And that neatly explained why Yen Sid had known my real name when I'd first visited him. Now I just had to make sure Xigbar didn't prevent Maleficent from causing Enchanted Dominion to be swallowed by the darkness – not something I would ordinarily do or allow to happen, but not letting it happen... the consequences could be far reaching, and Roxas and I both knew it.


	85. Where Darkness Began

Enchanted Dominion was the last world I had to visit out of the initial three worlds the others had gone to, and the residence of the only princess who's world had not been graced – if that's the right word – by my presence.  
>I did not immediately land once I'd entered the world, figuring that if I could spot Xigbar's influences from the air it would put me in a better position to fight them. I started from the castle Aurora had been sleeping in, though since all three of the others had gone through here I knew she'd gone off with Prince Phillip, leaving the castle empty.<br>From there I followed the path Ventus would have taken toward the Forbidden Mountains, up over the path that lead to the partially ruined keep that was Maleficent's stronghold. From the air, there appeared to be no outside influences here besides myself.  
>I landed within the courtyard of that stronghold, dismissing both Glider and armour, and proceeded inside, passing through the empty room containing Maleficent's throne, and the massive chambers beyond. It was strangely deserted, even by the Unversed – though this was at a time and place where ordinarily, nobody with a Keyblade was supposed to be.<br>The prison where Maleficent had once kept Prince Phillip and Aqua was empty, as were the surrounding rooms. The small hole she'd created that had dropped Aqua down to that prison had been repaired, I noticed. With nowhere else to look but the inside of the other castle here, I started back out again.  
>When I reached Maleficent's throne room for the second time though, it was occupied. She was up on the raised dais, looking down to none other than Master Xehanort. I took cover quickly behind a pillar to keep out of sight and listened in.<br>"It's as simple as that," Xehanort was telling her. "A dark army of uncountable numbers at your beck and call, capable of reaching into all worlds as you command them. What better means to retrieve all seven princesses of purest hearts?"  
>"If it is that easy, why do you not do this yourself?" Maleficent inquired. "Why waste your time on that wretched boy you keep around?"<br>"If you mean Vanitas... he's necessary to my designs. I can obtain something through him that is beyond even the combined power of the princesses. But I've no wish to turn that against you, Maleficent. Why work in competition, when we can cooperate? You know where one princess is, and would possess the means to find the others in short order. You can corrupt the minds of others similarly steeped in darkness just as you did young Master Terra's. You'll be ruling all worlds in no time at all."  
>"And then what? I suppose you want to make me your Queen?"<br>"Why not? Between us, we will be unstoppable!" Xehanort proclaimed grandly.  
><em>In his dreams,<em> Roxas muttered. I shared the feeling, but couldn't risk them detecting my presence.  
>"Very well," Maleficent replied. "I will consider your offer. You may go to see to that boy of yours... so long as you keep him away from me."<br>"Oh, have no fears, Maleficent – he'll be meeting his own end soon," Xehanort told her smugly to the accompaniment of a dark corridor.  
>"As he should do," Maleficent murmured. "Him and his opposite... the two would only be trouble. But I wonder..." she trailed off, and I peeked out from behind the pillar. She was directing her magic downwards to where Xehanort had been, creating a small dark portal. As she was focused on it, I took the opportunity to sneak around and closer to her, this time pausing as close as I dared to the stairs that lead up to her.<br>As I watched, the portal called forth a Shadow Heartless, followed by some more of them.  
>"How interesting," Maleficent noted. Then a part of her magic arced upwards, displaying a scene outside her stronghold. "What's this? Some more of those white husks, heading this way?" Indeed, the picture showed Nobodies crossing the bridge before the castle Aurora had slept in.<br>"Uh oh," I breathed. "That could be trouble."  
>Maleficent on the other hand, simply summoned more Heartless through. A couple of Neoshadows showed up, followed by a single Invisible, but the rest remained Shadows.<br>"Heartless! Hear my words!" she called to them. "Go forth, and destroy those white creatures!"  
><em>Some things never change, <em>Roxas sighed. _At least we know where the origins of her Heartless invasions came from.  
><em>"Think about what we're seeing, Roxas," I replied quietly. "And what Yen Sid told us. Xigbar's got Nobodies in the other castle, and clearly he's been attacking Maleficent with them. Pureblood Heartless are no match for a mass of Nobodies, where Emblem Heartless stand more of a chance – but there aren't any yet, and won't be until after Ansem the Wise takes on Xehanort as an apprentice."  
><em>Which has to happen after he takes over Terra's body. So what you're saying is, Maleficent can't bring in enough Heartless yet to defeat the Nobodies, and she'll run out of magic if she tries to take them on herself.<br>_"Which in turn means she'll never get to the point of starting to take over the various worlds. Much as I hate to admit it... we have to help her."  
>"Talking to yourself isn't usually a good sign," Maleficent's voice came from behind me. "And breaking into my stronghold doesn't suggest the best of you either," she went on as I turned cautiously to see her. "However... if what I just heard is correct... you wish to help me?"<br>"Only because those white creatures are stopping something that has to happen. If I had the choice, I wouldn't stop them normally, but I don't have that option. I don't like helping you, not after – not after seeing the kinds of things you're going to do in the more distant future, but it has to be done."  
>"Future sight," she noted. "A rare and powerful gift you have, mister..."<br>_Don't give her Sora's name,_ Roxas told me suddenly. _I think this is something that has to happen too.  
><em>"Liam," I told her shortly, then realized she must have been the one to tell Riku my real name, back when I'd been trying to keep him from taking my Keyblade from me. "Just keep the Heartless from attacking me, and I'll... work alongside them to defeat these enemies." I hated myself just for saying it. Working alongside the same creatures I'd destroyed constantly up until now? Even when I'd become a Heartless I'd still destroyed them. Let alone working alongside Maleficent...  
>"And what are these creatures, do you know?"<br>"No," I lied. "Not yet, anyway. I just know I have the tools to defeat them. Just... keep out of my way."  
>She said nothing more once I took out Gilded Light, evidently recognising a Keyblade when she saw one. Since she had no idea I could dual wield, and I wanted to keep it that way as long as possible, I chose not to take a second one.<br>Then I left, ignoring the few Heartless that were straggling behind. Some few of them almost made attempts for me, but then what command Maleficent had over them so far exerted itself, and they refocused on their goal.  
>Most of the Nobodies that were headed for her were of course the standard Dusks. They seemed to be a never-ending tide, much like the Shadow Heartless and Flood Unversed. Scattered amongst them were more than just a few Snipers, there were Creepers and Dragoons among them, along with a thin scattering of Samurais. Roxas quickly took control of the last as we encountered them, turning them on the various remaining Nobodies.<br>Maleficent's Heartless still attempted to attack the Samurais, until we ordered them to scout ahead and inform us of what lay ahead. Even then, the Heartless had little effect compared to my own attacks, pushing them back through the fields between Maleficent's stronghold and the bridge I'd seen earlier.  
>This tide was not never-ending though, and once we reached part way across the bridge the only Nobodies left in sight were our own Samurais. Maleficent had clearly been watching, as her Heartless ignored them now, threading their way through the ranks of Samurais to continue on to the castle beyond.<br>Since they seemed to think there was something else there, we followed them on into the castle. A few more Nobodies had been left littering the castle, and we used the Heartless to root them out so I could destroy them.  
>A last scattering of Samurais had been left up in the tower for us to gather, then the Heartless vanished. Evidently, they felt their task done.<br>"Talk to your Samurais, Roxas," I said afterwards. "Find out why they're here, and why they were taking orders from Xigbar."  
><em>You can do it yourself, you know. I did tell them to.<br>_"I know, but I don't feel comfortable with it. Besides, you're on better terms with them."  
>Roxas appeared to be able to communicate with them without my overhearing, and held only a short conversation with them before they too vanished, heading to some place unknown to me.<br>_Something's wrong here,_ Roxas told me worriedly. _They had no idea I had returned to you. The last thing they remember of me was my turning on the Organization – after that, Xigbar took control of them, and sent them back in time, just like he did you and a load of other Nobodies, but with the standing orders to obey him – or anyone who looked like him.  
><em>"Maybe he was making preparations for sending us back in advance?" I suggested, heading back down. "And we know Xigbar and Braig have been in contact with each other – perhaps he wanted his original self to be able to command them too."  
><em>Don't you see though? Xigbar didn't come back with them. He wouldn't have entrusted putting you back to a replica of himself, he'd want to do it himself to make sure you were out of the picture. He never had to come back to here and now with you or them.<br>_"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" I asked, not wanting to voice the concerns in case they turned out to be true.  
><em>Only the Xigbar here can answer that, Liam. And if I'm right...<br>_"Yen Sid would also be right. I'd have to wait ten years."  
>"Who said anything about waiting, kid?" Xigbar's voice told me as I returned to the entrance hall. He was lounging in the seats at the far end of the hall. "I can see to it you never have to wait at all."<br>"No doubt by trying to be rid of me," I replied contemptuously. "Why don't you get us back to our own time, and quit with the meddling here in the past?"  
>"And miss out on the chance to change the past? As if! But why waste my time trying to explain it all to you – after all, you're not making it outta the past alive if I can help it."<br>"I could say the same of you," I shrugged. "And if I don't, Roxas will."  
>"Wondered who was going around stealing my Samurais off me," he chuckled ruefully. "Guess I shoulda thought of that. Well, can't stick around here all day – I got things to change. Be a good boy now," he smirked, disappearing into a dark corridor as more Nobodies filled the room. Needless to say, they followed the same fate as the other Nobodies we'd encountered in this world, hopefully ensuring that Maleficent would take it into the darkness. No matter which way I looked at it, I knew I was in part responsible for that, and I didn't like that. But it had been necessary, and it had provided an interesting, if unwanted, insight into Xigbar's plans.<p> 


	86. Seen and Heard

Since I saw my part here as done, I headed back outside, intending to stop by Master Eraqus and find out why he'd asked Yen Sid to put a protective spell on me, and to make sure there were no further attempts by Xigbar to change the events in the Land of Departure.  
>Maleficent interrupted me just before I summoned my Glider though, appearing in one of those green flames she's so fond of.<br>"Well handled, Master Liam. I had little doubt you'd be of good use to me."  
>"I wasn't doing it for you," I told her again. "I had other reasons for it."<br>"Yes, you mentioned. Something in the future that had to happen. But perhaps if you'd care to reconsider your views..."  
>"What is it with people and trying to exploit that?" I demanded sharply. "So I know what's going to happen. Do you have any idea how useless that could be the moment I make a single change? I did all this to <em>stop<em> something from changing, and now you're asking me if I want to undo that?"  
>"A simple no would have done, you know. Nevertheless... after your service for me here today, I believe it only fair to consider myself indebted to you. Should you change your mind, you are welcome to call in that debt."<br>"If I find reason to. When you start seeing a young boy named Sora stop your plans, know this – that boy is me, and what he does, I've already done. I know what will happen to you, and no matter what you do, you'll never get out of it."  
>"Are you threatening me, Liam?"<br>"No. I'm just telling you what's going to happen. A spoiler of the future, if you will. Just don't let it affect what you do, or I'll regret having told you."  
>"Very interesting... then I look forward to seeing you again – even if you will be in opposition to you. Perhaps I will find a way to make use of this, without affecting your past."<br>"I doubt it. Time's not something safe to play around in. One mistake..." I trailed off and shook my head. "No, even my just being here is changing too much. I have to find a way back before I make too many more changes."  
>"I might find a way... if I knew where you were going to."<br>"If Yen Sid can't do it, neither can you," I told her bluntly.  
>"You forget... I am the mistress of all darkness, and the darkness can do great things. You know where to find me, Master Liam," she added, vanishing again.<br>I made to leave again, but this time Roxas stopped me.  
><em>Liam, don't be obvious about it, but that kid I saw back in Olympus Coliseum is back. Far side of the bridge from us.<br>_I glanced up, making as if I were examining Gilded Light. Of course, unlike conventional weapons like swords, Keyblades never need any maintenance – that's part of their own innate magic. But maybe this strange boy didn't know that.  
>In the edge of my vision though, I saw at last the boy Roxas had seen. Tall, with spiky orange hair similar to Roxas and Ven's own, with violet headphones on that matched the odd shirt he wore. Odd as it seemed to be folded up at the neck for a kind of funnel shape. A loose belt held up white shorts, and he had black and violet shoes that matched the shirt.<br>Like me, he was pretending to be more interested in something else, one of his hands that had a yellow wristband on it. It was difficult to tell whether he really was pretending to watch me or not, but it seemed likely.  
>"Why couldn't I see him before though?" I murmured, as if this stranger could hear me from the far end of the bridge. "For that matter, just who is he?"<br>_Your guess is as good as mine. I just hope-_ Roxas broke off. I looked up, as if it would give me some clue as to what had happened to him. He was still there this time.  
>As it happened through, I looked up and straight at the boy. He returned the favour with a cold expression for a moment, then made a curious movement with one hand and vanished.<br>Next thing I knew he was right behind me, unarmed, but striking me all the same. When I whirled around to lash out at him, he vanished a second time, once more appearing behind me to catch me out, and then a third time he did the same before drawing warily back. What had I done to incur his wrath?  
>I made to attack him with Gilded Light, the only Keyblade I had out as I had been attempting to call my Glider, but the boy was annoyingly agile, and evaded my attacks easily. Whenever I tried to corner him up against the edge of the bridge, he simply vanished and reappeared not far away, though he didn't try catching me from behind the way he had before.<br>Instead he made a gesture as if throwing something at me, and a bolt of lightning sprung at me from the empty air nearby. I stupidly tried to block its path with the Keyblade, which only conducted it into me, bringing a faint chuckle from this boy, irritating me. I don't like opponents that laugh at my mistakes.  
>To show him I was far from limited, I sent Thundaga at him, startling him. He didn't appear to like that, and sent three more lightning bolts back at me. Reflect blocked them, but interestingly did not redirect them back at him.<br>He waited, watching me intently. Whenever I looked like I was about to cast any spell again, he got ready to move, not wanting to be caught out like he had done by Thundaga. Once Reflect had run its course, he resumed his own attacks with two more bolts, this time coming at me from behind so I wouldn't see it coming, I assume.  
>This I followed up with a Dark Firaga, using the dark variant only out of irritation. I don't come up with the best reasons when irritated. He avoided that easily though, then made another throwing motion.<br>I ducked, expecting another bolt of lightening, but then quickly jumped up again and clear once I realized he'd instead created a fire right underneath me, even going so far as to set me on fire. That at least was easily dealt with, smothering the fire by reluctantly bringing out the armour. If he directed thunder attacks at me again now, they'd really hurt.  
>I expected the flame to follow me around, as some Fire spells do, but instead it vanished once I was beyond its reach, replaced by a booming explosion behind me that drove me to the ground. Just what kind of magic was he using?<br>_-he isn't hostile,_ Roxas's voice finished, then he appeared to notice what was going on. _Oh, bugger,_ he muttered.  
>"Bit of an understatement," I muttered in response. The boy appeared to hear even with the headphones on, looking curious as a second explosion happened to one side, then a third on my other side. "I'm starting to get annoyed with this," I said then.<br>_Be careful, Liam,_ Roxas warned. I hate it when people tell me that – I hear it often enough anyway.  
>Now I pulled out a trick I was certain he wouldn't be able to block or be prepared for, and used Dark Aura. True to my suspicions, he really was not expecting that and took every blow hard. As soon as it was finished, I came at him from behind.<br>My armour makes a distinctive sound though, so he heard me coming and stopped me with yet another explosion, this time blowing me far back down the bridge. When it cleared and I looked, he was up to something again. He didn't appear to be harmed, but he was clearly breathing hard.  
>Then a strange blue sphere formed around him. It wasn't clear what it was for, but it did seem to stop him from getting clear when I charged for him, bringing a second Keyblade out at last an battering away at it. As he watched from inside the sphere, he crossed his arms and looked on with a smirk.<br>_Use a Thunder spell,_ Roxas prompted me. _That's some kind of water-based barrier – Thunder should be able to cut right through it.  
><em>As Roxas said it, the smirk was replaced with a look of surprise, as if he'd heard Roxas too. But that was impossible... right?  
>Apparently not. As I started to cast Thundaga for a second time, the barrier dropped and he threw something again. I tried to pursue, but found my feet had become encased in brown rocks that prevented me. When I looked back up again, he'd gone.<br>"What was that about?" I wondered, dismissing my armour. Without it, the rocks left me enough room to free one foot, then they also vanished. "And what happened to you?" I asked Roxas.  
><em>I had a pair of visions right in the middle of my sentence. Normally I can feel them coming, so keep quiet until they've passed, but these two caught me by surprise.<br>_"I don't suppose they told you anything about him?"  
><em>Afraid not, but they're both useful in a way. The first showed me something you might not like.<em> I said nothing, so he continued, _When Ansem's machine detonates, Riku won't be the only one affected. You might still be in Sora's body, but it's your heart in there. That detonation will make his body take on your real appearance – like Xion looked.  
><em>"That's not good. I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do if that's accurate."  
><em>Have you ever known my visions to be wrong yet?<em> Roxas asked plaintively. _Anyway, the second is the real worry. It has the feeling of something that hasn't yet happened, but needs to be changed.  
><em>"What is it?"  
><em>Go to Eraqus, Liam. Before Xigbar changes the timeline.<br>_The implications of that were all too clear. Now I had another reason to go to the Land of Departure – to preserve the timeline again, to find out why Eraqus had wanted me protected by Yen Sid's magic.  
>But the questions remained – who was the boy? Why could I see him now, when I couldn't before, and biggest of them all... why had he attacked me?<br>A new face in the story that I knew nothing about yet seemed to have provoked somehow... there was no telling how this unexpected arrival would change things.


	87. The Whirlwind Lancer's Stand

After a short trip to the Land of Departure, I could see clearly there were signs of other outside influences already. Eraqus himself had taken up his own Keyblade and was easily holding off periodic Unversed attacks as he strode purposefully down the pathway to where I'd first arrived in the past.  
>That area itself had, you guessed it, Nobodies in. But not just Nobodies, apparently Xigbar had been busy since I left and had given them another commander here – Xaldin, or at least a Replica of him, and a number of his own Dragoon Nobodies.<br>Once I'd flown overhead to get a better idea of the situation, I returned to Eraqus and landed nearby to lend a hand.  
>"I was wondering when you would show up," he told me with barely a glance.<br>"I got wind that someone was trying to change the past," I shrugged. "I can't go letting that happen, can I? Besides... I know these creatures better than you do."  
>"Yen Sid was unable to tell me much about them. I recall what you told me, but in the circumstances perhaps an exception is needed?"<br>"They're called Nobodies," I explained, briefly filling him in on the ones I'd seen here, Dusks, Creepers and Dragoons. "These local ones aren't being controlled by Xigbar – the one who sent me here," I went on afterwards. "They're under the command of a Replica of an old enemy of mine, Xaldin."  
>"But surely no trouble if you know what he'll do in battle," Eraqus pointed out.<br>"That's the theory – unless he pulls out a trick I haven't seen yet, and Xaldin has a few such tricks. Not that I don't have an idea of what they'll be though," I added, clearing the path downwards with a string of Thunder. Xaldin looked up at the sound, frowning slightly as he waved one arm, directing the Nobodies toward us.  
>I quickly gave Eraqus a few tips on handling the Nobodies, then bashed my way through the main front, making a bee-line through their ranks for Xaldin and destroying any of them stupid enough to get in my way.<br>Before I'd even reached Xaldin I noticed that Xigbar had been more than a little busy, and had made a few alterations to this Replica of him. The lances that appeared were formed of the darkness, and instead of merely using the air to get around quicker, just as Roxas had during his own fight with me when he used the Lindworm lances, he used the darkness too. Accordingly, his eyes were the same amber that any heavy user of darkness would become, which prompted me to wonder if mine had done the same.  
><em>Of course they haven't, now stop getting distracted and pay attention,<em> Roxas told me irritably. He's as bad as me sometimes.  
>Xaldin kept clear of me, evidently noticing that I was the main threat, but had neglected to take into consideration Eraqus's extreme reaction to darkness. As soon as Eraqus caught the familiar scent of someone using it, he turned swiftly on Xaldin, surprising him. I quickly mopped up the remaining Nobodies while Xaldin tried to evade Eraqus's attacks, both by Keyblade and Light-based and enhanced magic.<br>Then Xaldin pulled out one of the tricks I'd mentioned to Eraqus before, taking to the sky around on the chain of lances he normally uses outside of Beast's Castle – the one fight with him I'd avoided entirely up until now.  
>As four of his lances made up the chain, he was limited to just the two lances in his hands. However, with the enhancement of the darkness, he had no need to come nearby, making a thrust with one that caused a multitude of shadow-spears to erupt from the tip, swarming around us.<br>Eraqus defeated this with what I suspect was a variant of the Light spell Queen Minnie had used just before we went to Timeless River, while I decided if Xaldin was going to take to the air, so was I.  
>My Glider, unlike Terra or Aqua's, is not entirely suited to aerial combat as such. While Ven too suffers from this problem, I at least could make up for it with the second Keyblade, which allowed me to perform a series of hit and run attacks on Xaldin, diving down and in to strike out, then getting clear before he was able to retaliate.<br>Eraqus meanwhile continued to fend off the shadow-spear attacks, using more of his own magic to draw Xaldin's lance chain in closer to the land when he was distracted by each of my own attacks.  
>This allowed him to launch his own chain of attacks on Xaldin just after I'd made another hit on him, but before his attention had gone back to Eraqus. Master Keeper, his own Keyblade, is a powerhouse in his hands, that much I could tell just by watching.<br>The lance chain was broken, but Xaldin managed to get to solid ground and retrieve his lances, casting Aero to try to protect himself. This I undid as I landed again, having had a glance at the details of that spell while at Merlin's, and found that if I also cast it on him but willed the winds to blow the opposite way, it would null the original one. Needless to say, Xaldin did not appreciate that, hastily blocking the three Keyblades coming for him with the various lances until we had him backed up against a wall.  
>He disappeared then, and after a shockwave hit the ground nearby I quickly raised Reflect, Eraqus following suit – this is Xaldin's version of the Jump command. I had figured without Xigbar's darkness enhancing the Replica though.<br>Eraqus was safe within his Reflect, as it was bolstered by the Light he put into all his spells. I on the other hand did not fare so well, with my Reflect destroyed after only two shockwaves had impacted it, leaving me vulnerable.  
>I hesitated – I had the means to put up a stronger Reflect I knew, but with Eraqus nearby...<br>Another shockwave slammed me up against the same wall we'd backed him up against, and I decided I was going to have to do something, so raised a Dark Reflect and then as the next shockwave impacted the ground I lashed out with a Dark Thundara to try and jolt him out of his attack. I don't know what Eraqus's reaction was to my use of the darkness, since I wasn't paying attention to him.  
>My gamble paid off, leaving him stunned where the center of the shockwave had been. Now my Reflect was replaced with my own Aero, like the previous spells using the darkness too so I could match Xaldin's own use of it.<br>As I'd landed again earlier, I was able to use both Keyblades to better effect on the ground, and even more so while he remained stunned. The effect did not last long, but it gave me the chance to get started on him, and took away his chances of stopping me.  
>He did recover though, shoving me back and bringing his own Aero back. Eraqus, having observed my own counter to this earlier, used his own Aero magic to counter it.<br>It failed. Not because he'd done it wrong though, as I followed up with my own to try and do the same, and that too failed, both with and without the darkness. This was something unexpected.  
>With this new barrier in place, Xaldin was able to ignore both of our attacks, even set up the chain of lances again to get back in the air and beyond our reach. From the safety of the lances and his barrier, he sent powerful blasts of wind at the two of us that not even a Dark Reflect would stop. This was going to need something new.<br>"Cover for me, Eraqus," I roared over the sound of the wind. "I need a moment to come up with something!" Eraqus merely nodded, still focused on Xaldin and ignoring my unintended disrespect by leaving off the 'Master', but bracing himself against the wind as he placed himself between me and Xaldin. "I assume you can hear me no matter how loud that gets," I said, not bothering to raise my voice. I barely heard myself.  
><em>Of course,<em> Roxas replied. _I don't need to hear you to know what you're saying. What do you need?  
><em>"You made my darkness fully available to me in Anti-Form. Now I need it an a different form."  
><em>That's as dangerous as using it without a form, Liam. Probably more so, actually. What are you thinking?<br>_"I need something powerful to break through that barrier, but he's going to stay out of reach to stop us from doing anything about it. I need something with more range."  
><em>Gotcha. Wisdom form should do the trick.<br>_"No, not Wisdom. It doesn't have a proper finishing move. I want to enhance something from Limit Form."  
>There was a long silence – well, silence from Roxas anyway – before he finally answered, <em>That's <em>_probably the worst form you could choose, Liam. You won't have as much resistance to the darkness, because you never had any during the times that form is based from.  
><em>"But I did have Kairi's heart with me," I persisted. "And her heart is still connected to mine, like all of the princesses. Maybe that'll be enough. I have to do _something_, Roxas," I insisted.  
><em>Alright,<em> he said with clear reluctance. _But one use only mind, then I'm pulling the darkness back off that form. Make it count.  
><em>I didn't reply, mostly because another blast of wind blew Eraqus into me, and both of us back up against the rocky wall again.  
>"Stay back," I warned him tersely, then as the wind subsided I closed the gap between Xaldin and me, bringing Limit form into play part way along. This prevented me from keeping my offhand Keyblade present, but that was of no concern to me.<br>Limit form was unusually altered by Roxas allowing my darkness to influence it. Normal Limit Form is almost indistinguishable from Sora's original appearance, but with a sightly darker pattern of a crown around the end of his... shorts? Whatever they are, you know what I mean.  
>My dark Limit form changed that. While the shoes and gloves remained unchanged from their usual Limit form appearance, in place of the crowns was a single red band and the rest of what I wore was black, as if in Anti-Form. To further show the dark influence, the Kingdom Crown, its chain and the chain I still had hanging off my belt were all black too.<br>Remember the whispers I always heard in Anti-Form? They were here too, but louder. Roxas was right, without the natural darkness Anti-Form had I might as well have let Hades keep on what he had been doing.  
>Xaldin threw one of his lances at me, but either his aim was poor or I moved too quickly for him. As he readied the second lance I started my own attack, one I hadn't used in a long time: Strike Raid.<br>I held Roxas's one-time burst of darkness back though, waiting for the first four strikes to connect. While his barrier negated the damage, they did connect and that was all I needed. Once the four strikes had hit, I unleashed Judgement, the finisher for Strike Raid with the full power of the burst behind it.  
>Xaldin's chain of lances buckled and broke up underneath him when it hit him, leaving him momentarily suspended in the empty air before he plummeted. Just for good measure, I sent a few normal Thunder spells after him.<br>Then I turned to face Eraqus. He did not look approving.  
>"So another of my students falls to the darkness," he murmured almost sorrowfully.<br>"I was never truly your student, Eraqus. At any rate, my darkness was forced on me long before I met you. Or long after, depending on your point of view."  
>"I knew you had it in you when I first met you, but I never thought you'd stoop so low as to <em>use<em> it."  
>"Be realistic, Eraqus," I replied bluntly. "It won us this fight, and you can plainly see my eyes are still blue, untouched by the darkness because I <em>don't<em> use it that much. Where I feel necessary, and then only if I can't see an alternative."  
>"There is always an alternative," he asserted, raising his Keyblade as if to take on me.<br>"Put it down," I sighed. "I don't know the outcome of a fight between us, and in any case it would disturb events that must happen." As this had no effect on him, I reluctantly continued, "For starters, Ventus will be returning soon, and Terra not long after. You have to be there to see them when they return, no matter what their return brings."  
>"You could be merely saying that to stave off the inevitable conflict between us."<br>"No, Master Eraqus. I mean it as much this time as when we first met. You should go back up to the courtyard where the others all left from, before they get here. Maybe if you're still set on fighting me, you'll be able to afterwards."  
><em>You know he can't make good on that,<em> Roxas told me. I knew alright, but I also had a feeling it wouldn't be long before Ven arrived – and the confrontation that would ensue, where Terra shows up and ends up fighting Eraqus.  
>Eraqus appeared to think this through, never once letting his eyes off me or his guard down the whole time. As a gesture of goodwill, I dismissed my Keyblade and the last parts of Limit form, leaving myself deliberately defenceless.<br>Eventually he decided to accept my word, and headed back up. Just moments later, a portal opened in the skies above, with Ventus emerging from them. Time was back on course again, it seemed.


	88. Battles and Endings

I knew it was only a matter of time before the great battles at the Keyblade Graveyard took place, and Roxas strongly hinted that I would need to be present too. He refused to tell me any more on the matter though.  
>There was still the small matter of Xigbar at large though, and I wouldn't have put it past him to cause trouble in as many worlds as possible just to keep me away from the Keyblade Graveyard. So I fell back to something I'd done earlier on, and returned to the Disney Castle to examine its representation of each world.<br>This took time, but I felt it was better to be safe about it. As it happened though, Xigbar was hiding with Braig, lying in wait there for Eraqus's apprentices. Eraqus himself had fallen, and the Land of Departure had become severely damaged.  
>Terra was just moments away from arrival at the Keyblade Graveyard, with Ven and Aqua not far behind. No other worlds appeared to show any anomalies, so I trusted that none would arise in the intervening time and departed to join them.<br>After having been attacked by the Metamorphosis and the strange Heartless beast on the asteroids while in the Lanes Between, I almost expected something similar to happen again on this trip. I needn't have worried though, as nothing cropped up and I arrived at the Keyblade Graveyard without issue, flying through until I reached the spot where Ven was just telling Terra and Aqua to put an end to him, so landed nearby.  
>"Am I late?" I asked mildly when they each turned to face me.<br>"Sora... you're here," Aqua said. "I wasn't sure you'd... take the risks."  
>"You're my friends too. I can't just stand on the sidelines for this. Especially not knowing what you're about to go through," I added to Ven, who looked surprised.<br>"Does that mean..." Aqua did not finish, but I knew what she meant.  
>I nodded, "You should both know what Aqua does." Then gave them a shorter explanation. Terra looked sceptical especially when I mentioned the 'future sight' I offered, but Ven merely nodded in acceptance.<br>"I thought you had a good reason," he told me.  
>There was no further response, except for the winds to pick up, then die down again to reveal Master Xehanort being closely followed by Vanitas, who interestingly was unmasked.<br>"Behold!" Xehanort called. "These lifeless keys used to be full of power, unite with the hearts of their masters. On this barren soil, Keyblades of light and darkness were locked in combat as a great war raged. Countless wielders gave up their lives, all in search of one, ultimate key – which will soon belong to me!" He pointed toward Ven and exclaimed, "X-blade!" It was pronounced very similar to 'Keyblade'.  
>I've tried to figure out when those present say Keyblade and X-blade, but I may not have been entirely accurate.<br>The others all took out their armour and armed themselves, with Terra holding Ven back as he attempted to rush Xehanort, but with a hand brought sharply upwards the earth at his feet shot upwards with cracking rumbles, concealing Terra from our view as Xehanort rose further up. A second gesture caused many of the dead Keyblades to gather into three dusty streams, one aimed at Aqua, one at Ven, and one at me.  
>They ran from it, but I stood steadfast in the face of this with a courage I really did not feel. I waited as long as I dared before projecting a normal Reflect spell, causing the stream's Keyblades to scatter, then reorient on me once more. At least with them split up, I could handle them as if they were merely many opponents without magic.<br>The stream of Keyblades simply kept on coming though, and it wasn't long before I too was forced to find some way of evading them even as I kept watch on Aqua and Ven. Now the stream on her reoriented on Terra, allowing her to try and save Ventus from his own while I ducked behind a rock in the hopes the stream following me would not be able to turn sharply enough.  
>It worked, but only because all streams except Ven's were now heading for Terra, lifting him up into the air. Aqua, who had either lost or discarded her helmet along the way, quickly sent a spell up to him to bar their path, like my own Reflect causing the stream to scatter but also dropping Terra down to the newly formed plateau that Vanitas and Xehanort were on.<br>Ventus had also been carried up that way only to have Xehanort grab him. Vanitas barred Terra's attempts to reach Ventus, who appeared to be being frozen. Once the helmet had snapped off his armour because of the cold, Xehanort tossed him off and back down to us.  
>"Leave this to me," I told Aqua, heading to intercept the falling Ventus.<br>"Not a chance," she told me, catching up. "We'll do it together, Sora."  
>"Then work with me on this," I replied. "You'll pick it up quick enough."<br>Aqua nodded, then we slowed Ven's descent with a chained mixture of Zero Gravity and ordinary Gravity, guiding him safely to us.  
>"Ven, are you okay?" she asked him almost before he rested before us, but being frozen he could not move to reply. Only his eyes were still mobile.<br>High above us, Xehanort threw something upwards into the roiling clouds above, causing them to ponderously move aside to reveal the true Kingdom Hearts. I've never before met anything with the kind of power Kingdom Hearts has behind it, and I doubt I ever will again, but I'll never forget that moment simply because I could practically _feel_ its presence there.  
>Then a voice said, "How 'bout you leave the popsicle with me, so you two can go have your little fights with them up there? You, little lady, can't be too happy about him deep-sixing your master, and you," Braig turned to me, "I'm told someone you know is up there, kid. Name Xigbar ring any bells?"<br>_Don't believe him, Liam!_ Roxas snapped. _Xigbar will be down here soon enough, just stay with Ventus!  
><em>"Just who are you?" Aqua demanded.  
>Braig ignored that, "You all think you've got some kind of grand role to play. As if. You're only here-"<br>"Shut up," I told him in a low, flat voice. "You don't have any idea what you're talking about. Terra will resist the darkness as long as it resides with him, and you... you don't even have what it takes to finish off a fly, let alone us."  
>Ven struggled to move behind us, attracting Aqua's attention.<br>"Save your strength for when you need it," she murmured to him.  
>"Go on," I told Aqua, nodding to Braig. "Give him what he deserves. I'll stay with Ven."<br>"Oh yeah?" Braig chuckled. "We'll see about that."  
>Looking uncharacteristically furious, Aqua sprung up with surprising speed. Braig was expecting this though, and quickly got clear.<br>"Sora," Ven said weakly. "You go ahead. I'll be fine."  
>"Aqua can handle him," I replied. "You on the other hand need someone around until you can move again."<br>"Just go, Sora," he said, more insistently. "Before they get here." With a great effort, he managed to point past me, not toward Aqua but to a place between her and him. I glanced up to see a gathering of Unversed swarming towards us.  
>"When you deal with Vanitas soon, they'll be gone anyway," I shook my head. "If I leave you now-"<br>"I'll be ready to fight off whatever gets through you and Aqua," he interrupted me. "I'm telling you, as a friend... keep the Unversed away from us, Sora."  
>"Ven..."<br>"Go, Sora," he repeated emphatically.  
>"Call me Liam, Ven. It's my true name, and when it looks like you're facing bad odds... remember that name. I believe in you, Ventus. Be strong, and you'll pull through."<br>"Thanks... Liam," he said with a faint smile. I left him then, turning to descend on the Unversed with probably the same kind of fury Aqua was still directing at Braig.  
><em>Something's changed,<em> Roxas told me as I hit the leading edge, causing them to reorient on me. _I can't tell what because it affected me too, but something has definitely been changed.  
><em>"For once Roxas, will you see some good news for a change?" I demanded irritably. "I'm getting a bit annoyed of getting bad news off you."  
><em>It's not like I got a choice, you know! Give me time, I'm trying to figure out the where and when of it if I can.<br>_"Fine, but I'm going to nick your power again," I replied. Roxas did not reply, evidently busy.  
>While Roxas had made available to me all of the Organization's weapons in each of my Drive forms but Limit and Anti forms, here in the past I only had those two forms and the one borrowing from him to choose from.<br>One of the advantages of using his form though is that I can switch between those various weapons and the Keyblades without needing to leave that form, so I began with the one weapon I had originally thought I'd rarely use, Marluxia's Scythe.  
>I had learned a few tricks from Roxas when he'd used it on me, not to mention as usual I could borrow his own skill with it for my own use, allowing me to make short work of the closer Unversed and easily hold back the remaining tides.<br>That was followed up by a combination of Xaldin's lances at first as they began to close in on me again, then as they got close I exchanged them for Axel's chakrams, obtained during the second visit to the Garden of Assemblage from his replica data within. While I'm hardly as good with them as Axel is, he would probably have been impressed enough with what I did at least.  
>During that, I paused when I noticed Vanitas had dived off the top of the plateau that had Terra and Xehanort on, and even now I could see the two fighting. The pause left me open though, and it forced me to tear my attention away so I could regain command of my own situation, even going so far as to cancel out my form and use both Keyblades to finish the lot of them.<br>However, I had found that during my own fight Xigbar had turned up with all that was left of the Nobodies he'd brought back with him, and now they had joined forced with Braig to menace Aqua. On the other side of me, Ventus was fighting with Vanitas, and despite his best efforts Vanitas was winning.  
>"I could use some help over here Liam!" he called to me.<br>_That's what it is!_ Roxas exclaimed. _You told Ven your real name! I hope you're prepared to accept the consequences of this, Lee – there's no telling what could happen because of this.  
><em>Some consolation. I'd done it to help Ventus though, and I hoped it would do so.  
>But I was still torn – if Vanitas overpowered Ventus too early, the X-blade could be forged too early, perhaps even in a complete form, giving Xehanort what he wanted.<br>If I helped Ventus, Aqua could be lost to Braig and his new allies, not to mention Xigbar could escape. But if I helped Aqua, Vanitas could get his hands on the X-blade too soon.  
>Despite everything, I couldn't turn my back on Ventus after his call for help, not right after telling him I would be there to help him.<br>"Damn my ethics," I muttered, then with a last glance over at Aqua and her foes I added, "You're next, Xigbar," and rushed Vanitas. Not only was he not expecting my intervention on the fight between him and Ventus, he was clearly unprepared for the sudden inspiration I had for a new spell, based on Reflect but different – instead of reflecting magic, it nullified it within its reach.  
>This deprived all of us of our magic, and as I put a touch of darkness into it to block Vanitas's own, it denied him all but the most simplest of attacks; his Keyblade. The outcome was fairly predictable.<br>I cast a quick healing spell on Ventus, nodding only once in passing to him before taking a dead run toward Aqua's own battle, using Teleport as soon as I was clear of my anti-magic zone to practically crash into the center of the fray.  
>Xigbar's Nobodies were already being decimated as I sent yet another quick Cure toward Aqua, and being the selfish kind of person Xigbar is he pulled the last of them into my path in an attempt to save himself.<br>While their numbers were few, they were enough to slow me until Roxas's salvaged Samurai Nobodies came unbidden to my aid. They drew Xigbar's Nobodies aside for their own battle, allowing Aqua to focus fully on Braig and me on Xigbar. To further disrupt their plans, none other than King Mickey himself joined the battle, somehow knowing the Samurais were on our side and noticing that they were struggling with the other Nobodies, and came to their aid.  
>Xigbar shot at me, of course, but I was ready for this. I finally became the last of us to don the armour, removing much of the effect Xigbar's shots had on me, allowing me to ignore the remaining effect to close on him.<br>He tried to draw away, tried to hang upside down in the air to get a moment's reprieve to reload his arrowguns, but every delay allowed me to close further on him. He always managed to stay just a little way ahead of me though, so I saved my magic, saved my darkness until I had enough to do what I wanted, even going so far as to call on Terra for an additional boost to maximise the effect of Dark Haze.  
>The sheer force I hit him with would have defied the laws of physics had I not been in a place where they get ignored on an almost regular basis, sending Xigbar flying backwards in a great arc that slammed him up against the base of the same plateau I had first fought Vanitas atop.<br>Roxas pointed out an Elixir I had saved and completely forgotten about, replenishing enough magic for me to Teleport directly to Xigbar. I discarded my Keyblades and in a fit of fury picked him up bodily and heaved him up against the rock wall again.  
>"Get us back, Xigbar," I seethed. "You've failed to stop me, failed to change the past, now get us back."<br>"You think it's that simple?" he chuckled weakly. "As if. I don't have that kinda power, kid. After all... I'm just a Replica. The fourth, final and best of the lot the real me made. You're stuck here now, and nothing you can do will change that. Game, set and match... Liam. You lose."  
>This only infuriated me all the more, knowing that all along we'd been right, that what Naminé couldn't tell us had been just that. Contrary to how it seems so far, I'm not actually a violent person, but in the few short moments that followed, you could have been forgiven for believing otherwise. I made certain there left nothing left of Xigbar's fourth Replica, before turning back to the main battle.<br>Braig, Aqua and Mickey were nowhere to be seen, and neither was Ventus or Vanitas. The orange lines of the Will's Cage surrounded the top of the new plateaus, and inside it I could see the Lingering Will engaged in a battle far more epic than my own up there had been.  
>So, now how was I going to get back? I could hardly wait ten years.<p> 


	89. Time Set Straight

I had a taste of victory, despite the loss of Ventus and Terra – who with Aqua could hardly be said to be any less my friends than Donald or Axel, or any other companions I'd had along the way. Soon I knew the Lingering Will would defeat Xehanort, and-  
>And leave him laying there, unconscious. The X-blade had been destroyed too soon, the destructive effects of its loss barred from reaching Kingdom Hearts above because it had instead impacted the Will's Cage. Mickey had taken the now comatose Ventus and Aqua away to Yen Sid's tower, while it was anyone's guess what had happened to Braig.<br>At least I had the satisfaction of knowing that there were no more Nobodies or Replicas here – none save only Roxas's liberated Samurais here, though they had taken severe losses even with Mickey's aid and now only a handful remained.  
>Without the light from the destruction of the X-blade reaching Kingdom Hearts and the clouds above, it would remain hanging there, shining down over the Keyblade Graveyard. Without it's light engulfing the soon to be knocked out Xehanort, he would never be taken to Radiant Garden to become an apprentice of Ansem the Wise.<br>I strongly suspected each of these issues was again caused by my presence in the past, and so naturally I felt it was my responsibility to see that things were set back on course again. Getting back to the present could wait; I could not allow the past to be left altered.  
>As there was no access route to the plateau above, the same plateau I had fought the Lingering Will before on, I had to resort to my Glider again to reach it, and even then all that offered me was a spectator's view of the battle between it and Xehanort. They each moved almost too quickly to tell what either was doing, or who was coming out on top.<br>But the Lingering Will was Terra's mind, and was far from a pushover as I knew. As their match closed, he took out Terra's Wayfinder, apparently salvaged during the battle from his stolen body. He smashed Xehanort away to give him time, then bowed his head slightly.  
>I felt a slight tugging on my heart, just as when Naminé had called me to restore Roxas, only this time toward Terra.<br>_Lend me your strength, Sora,_ Terra's voice rang out in my mind. I knew what he was doing now.  
>"Whenever you need it, Terra," I murmured in response.<br>The Lingering Will relinquished the dual-handed grip it had previously held, leaving it in one armoured hand. The other swung out as if also summoning a Keyblade, and into that hand flashed a Keyblade I would recognise anywhere – Eraqus had given it to me, after all.  
>Xehanort glowered up at me for a moment after seeing this, clearly furious that while I could not participate directly, thanks to Terra's dimension link with me I could still have an influence on it. I treated him to a vicious smirk just as he hastily blocked the Lingering Will's renewed attacks.<br>He delivered blow after blow to Xehanort, finishing with Ars Arcanum, made stronger by his dimension link and by the second Keyblade, leaving Xehanort reeling back with the final strikes.  
>The Lingering Will drew back again to finish off Xehanort, this time calling on an attack I myself had once been on the receiving end off: Ultima Cannon. This left Xehanort in the same unconscious state he should have been in anyway.<br>Terra's armour gave me a salute as it dismissed my borrowed Keyblade, then as the Will's Cage dissolved it drove Ends of the Earth into the ground and sank down, patiently waiting for the day I would come here again.  
>As I'd thought, Kingdom Hearts was not covered up again by the clouds, nor did Xehanort go anywhere. I was going to have to intervene here. Already armoured and aboard the Glider, I simply scooped him up and carried him with me to Radiant Garden, remaining aboard until I reached the doors of the tower, where Dilan and Aeleus remained at guard. Even was also nearby, with the young Ienzo holding his hand, and I think I caught sight of Braig hiding somewhat distant from them. Ansem's apprentices were all here.<br>When I landed nearby, I did not remove the armour, which prompted Dilan and Aeleus to reach for their weapons.  
>"Wait!" I called. "I need your help."<br>"We are scientists here, young man," Even told me. "Not healers. You will have to take your friend elsewhere."  
>"I've already tried healing him myself," I lied. "It didn't do anything. I don't know who this man is, or where he's from, but someone suggested to me that I bring him here, to someone named Ansem the Wise."<br>"Wise?" a voice said from behind the door. "Is that what they're calling me now? Stand down."  
>Dilan and Aeleus heeded those last words, stepping aside to open the door. Ansem the Wise stood on the other side. "Why do you conceal yourself so, young man?"<br>"I mean no offence by it, but it's an unfortunate necessity. Can you do anything for him?"  
>Ansem came forward to examine him, beckoning for Even to come too.<br>"Ienzo, return inside," Even said absently, releasing his hand. "Be ready to open the doors for us."  
>"You suspect there is something?" Ansem asked Even.<br>"There is something there, of that I am sure. But it is not something I've encountered before. Surely this warrants investigation, at least? If we can awaken him..."  
>"I concur," Ansem nodded. "Your friend was indeed wise to have you bring him to us," he told me. "Bring him."<br>"Ah...don't take this the wrong way, but... I'm kind of in a hurry here. There are other things I have to be doing. Could I perhaps leave him with you? I'll try to get back to see him... if I can."  
>Ansem nodded again, gesturing for Aeleus to join us and take Xehanort off my hands. I watched as they all returned inside except for Dilan, then left again, heading for the Land of Departure.<br>I reasoned that as the grass where I'd landed had experienced a sudden growth, or perhaps just passed through a lot of time in a short amount of time, maybe in that area there would be something left behind I could use?  
>I was too late though – Aqua had already used Master Eraqus's Keyblade to transform it into Castle Oblivion. There remained nothing left of the Land of Departure, at least not that I recognised. I made a brief but hesitant foray inside to see if it worked, creating a memory-based facsimile of the Land of Departure on the first floor.<br>I didn't enter that floor though, instead returning through the still open front door. Without the Organization or Naminé here, the castle was deprived of much of the things that make others dislike it so much.  
><em>Liam, I've got an idea,<em> Roxas said. _Something you said a while ago actually.  
><em>"What's that?"  
><em>Just after Naminé got me back to you, you said you'd find a way back – even if it meant-<br>_"Appealing to Kingdom Hearts," I finished, remembering myself. "And since it's still hanging there in the Keyblade Graveyard..."  
>I almost flung myself back into the Lanes Between to reach it. Surely this had to work, if the power Kingdom Hearts is reputed to have is as great as the reality. It had to be able to do something besides leave me to wait for so long.<br>I was plagued by the doubts of what-ifs though. If it couldn't do anything, what would happen to it? It hadn't been there when I fought the Lingering Will. What about me? I'd have to grow up as Sora, perhaps being the first person to find out what he'd look like as an adult – not to mention I'd have to keep out of history's way until the time came to go back to the World that Never Was, and then there'd be questions to answer.  
>I'd actually somehow made a mistake when I'd left though, and ended up at the Destiny Islands. I was sure I'd aimed correctly though, and I'd found Castle Oblivion in the same place as the Land of Departure.<br>When I arrived it was late evening, and the pier on the beach showed me that everyone had left the island for the day. Just rowing in though was a small boy in a white shirt, struggling with his boat. Evidently he wasn't yet old enough to manage it by himself, but why was this younger Sora coming here alone anyway? Had he forgotten something? I quickly scrambled up one of the ladders to hide in the same tree house I'd found Sora's mimic of the book in.  
>Sora finally managed to get his boat tied up again, climbing up onto the pier. He took something out of a pocket on the front of the red shorts he wore. I couldn't see what from my vantage, but whatever it was he examined it for a few moments then returned it to the pocket.<br>Then he looked up, directly at me. That startled me, but I quickly got hold of myself, it had to have been coincidence. Young Sora did not even know me, let alone that I was here. For him, the book didn't even exist yet.  
>As he picked his way across the beach though, I started to worry. He was undoubtedly heading for me here. I glanced around the tree house, but found nothing. He wasn't coming here looking for something left behind at all.<br>I briefly considered making a hasty exit as he paused at the bottom of the ladder, but decided he was too close to try it. I listened in though, and heard a sort of scratching sound – as if someone were writing on some paper.  
>Without knowing why, I backed away from the entrance to the tree house. Part way toward the back wall, Roxas inexplicably emerged again, and was left standing nearby. He looked puzzled, but no less concerned than I was. Something was definitely going on here.<br>"Well, duh!" Young Sora's voice came from below. "Why else do you think I'm here, huh?"  
>"You <em>know<em>?" Roxas exclaimed incredulously.  
>"Of course I know!" he replied, now climbing up into view. "When he got stuck in the past, so did I – except in his past, he's still in his own body, so I've had to go through my childhood again, at the same time knowing everything and trying not to show it."<br>"Does that mean-" I started, then he pulled the book out of his pocket, answering my question.  
>"It came back with me, fortunately."<br>"What about the copy of it you made?"  
>"Jiminy will be protecting it from anyone who tries to read it," he shrugged. "He still thinks it's your private journal."<br>"Right, but who's keeping him safe? He didn't come back with me."  
>"I arranged for Axel to pick him up." Then he shook his head. "Anyway, that's not what I wanted you two here for."<br>"You mean you didn't call us here to enjoy your charming company?" Roxas quipped. "I'm crushed."  
>Sora glared at him for a moment. "You're more like him than I remember you being," he muttered, indicating me. "Listen carefully," he told us, then started explaining.<br>Basically, what he told us comes down to this – he'd also noticed that I'd given Ven my real name, and others had overheard. Braig, specifically. Because of this, the Organization _all_ knew who I really was, including Axel and Demyx, and in all the encounters I'd made before Xigbar's attempt to get rid of me, they'd called me by my real name instead of as Sora – which had left Donald, Goofy and a few others with more than a few suspicions about me.  
>Riku, somewhat miraculously, had managed to avoid being further changed by anything we'd done, and was one of the few who remained with no idea I was not Sora, or that Maleficent had been right when she'd told him my real name – my persistently telling him otherwise had persuaded him I had been right, and not her.<br>Then there was the mysterious boy that had shown up, identified as someone named Neku. Sora also told us that he had no idea why Neku had shown up, or what he wanted – for now, Neku was an unknown to even Sora.  
>Finally he told us that Roxas would need to rejoin me (again) and that I'd have to persuade Kingdom Hearts to help me, because no amount of coercion via the book was going to do it for me.<p> 


	90. Present Day

And now we get into the events almost so recent, they're happening right now. Almost.  
>Of course, the first thing I did after all that was go to the Keyblade Graveyard, and make my appeal. I don't know that I made any sense, and I have no idea what Kingdom Hearts thought of the long, probably rambling speech I gave it, while also feeling somewhat stupid talking to a heart-shaped moon with an inanimate collection of armour behind me. What Terra must have thought of me is anyone's guess.<br>But it seems it did listen and decide to take action somehow. The clouds above closed, cutting off the light of Kingdom Hearts, and is the light passed me I was transported to a Station of Awakening identical to the ones Roxas finds during his time in the Simulated Twilight Town. Identical except that the depiction of Sora was, of course, replaced with one of me. Naturally there was no way of hiding who I really was in a Dive to the Heart.  
>Roxas was there with me, though I'm not sure it made much difference. Sora had arranged for a neat stack of five books to be left there for us. One of them was a second copy of the book so he could keep in touch, through which he explained that events as they were meant to happen, were happening as they should do, and that this Dive was actually Kingdom Hearts' way of preserving Roxas and I, without the inconveniences of ageing and such, until the time was right for us to continue where we'd left off.<br>The other four chronicled my adventures so far, one for each of the games I'd gone through. The one for Kingdom Hearts II being incomplete because I had yet to finish that one thanks to Xigbar's failed attempt to be rid of me.  
>So in the intervening time between arriving at that Dive, and right now – which Sora tells me is very close to the moment we're due to emerge back in the present – the three of us worked on this very story that you're reading.<br>From this point on, what you read is written not long after it happens to me. By agreement, when Sora thinks there's enough to put up for you, he'll cause everything to freeze so the three of us can run through it, make sure there's nothing there we'd rather you didn't see. I've been told not to try to take advantage of those frozen moments or Sora will write me out of doing it again. Guess I gotta be good.  
>Looks like it's almost time for me to continue where I left off and surprise Xigbar. Here goes.<p>

Kingdom Hearts appeared to share some kind of link with its artificial counterpart the Organization had created, delivering me safely to a small passageway outside the castle itself where their Kingdom Hearts was in full view. While I was missing my armour, everything else I'd gained in the past had come with me, including my Keyblade and the dimension links.  
>Roxas directed me back inside, which lead to the upper floor of the Hall of Empty Melodies, clear of Nobodies, but the sounds of battle came from below indicated that it was only the upper floor that was clear.<br>I crouched out of sight to take in the scene. The first thing I noticed was that none of the allies from other worlds were present. Either they had left for some reason, or somehow my telling Ventus my true name had caused them not to come.  
>Whatever the reason, the others were still present. Jiminy was holding on to the back of Axel's shirt, holding a bag which I presume held the journals and the original copy of the book, while Axel himself slung fire toward Xigbar, never seeming to get close enough to hit him with the chakrams.<br>Donald was doing the same, but rather than limiting himself to fire, he threw whatever magic came to him first, occasionally projecting a Reflect spell to try to block some of Xigbar's own attacks, or Curaga to keep the two of them going.  
>I wondered for a moment why Demyx and Goofy weren't there too, until I remembered I'd sent them off with Mickey to release the various captives. Without them present, Xigbar was having little trouble handling just these two of my friends.<br>Also visible from my vantage was the strange cannon device he'd originally used to send me back lying not far away, and the piece of my armour that Terra had returned, which was left not far from where I'd been stood when he sent me back.  
>I made sure the two of them would be able to handle things for a little longer as a plan formed. Firstly, I had to destroy that cannon before it got used again. That turned out to be as simple as taking it outside and smashing it against one wall. Evidently it was somewhat fragile.<br>Then I had to retrieve my armour, if possible without being seen. Magnet would have been recognised, and no other spell would get it to me without being noticed. Except, I had new spells now, and new abilities. A slight variant on the invocation of Teleport allowed me to get around Merlin's restriction on it affecting only me, bringing my armour to me.  
>Just as I'd suspected, the reason it hadn't worked for me before in the present was because I had no Mark of Mastery. Now I was back and I had it, it worked perfectly.<br>Then I waited for Xigbar to run low on shots and took a running jump down to the floor below, using Gravity and Zero Gravity to make the landing safe as I hit the floor between Xigbar and Axel, with Donald just behind. The trio froze when the sounds of my armour hit the floor, all turning to me.  
>Donald recognised me, but said nothing, looking thoughtful. He recognised the armour, having seen me in the Disney Castle when I'd visited in the past, here and now he was just recalling that. I also remained silent, calling only on Gilded Light for the moment.<br>"Impossible!" Xigbar exclaimed. "There's no way you could have-" He broke off and fired the last few shots at me, which had no effect. I answered this by using Stop on him, reverting naturally to Slow, and then following it up with Ars Arcanum, chosen by having recently – to me, anyway – seen Terra do the same.  
>As Slow wore off, I took Gilded Light in both hands and swung low, the force of the blow sending him flying against a wall, which I pinned him to by throwing it after him. It left him stuck between my Keyblade and the wall, over a seemingly bottomless pit. Xigbar looked very suddenly afraid.<br>"All I have to do is summon it back to me, and you're toast, Xigbar," I said.  
>"That voice..." Axel murmured. "Is that you, Sora?"<br>"Sora?" Donald asked him. "It can't be! I saw this guy years ago, there's no way he'd be the same now."  
>"Wanna bet, Donald?" I replied, tapping the shoulder to dismiss it.<br>"What happened to you?" it came from both of them at once.  
>"In a moment," I replied. "I have some unfinished business with Xigbar."<br>"Now, Sora," Xigbar began. "You can't blame me for-"  
>"Shut up," I interrupted, coming to the nearest edge to him. "Four Replicas of you I've destroyed now. Each one more troublesome than the last. Did you really think that sending me back in time was going to be all you needed to get rid of me?"<br>"I had to try. Luxord and I worked on that cannon since before Roxas even left us to get it to work, and more to tune it in on any specific point in time. That's why I sent a Replica to try and change the past."  
>"Or to try to eliminate me while I tried to preserve it? Yes, I know. But you failed, Xigbar. I'm more resourceful than you think. You didn't even manage to rid me of Roxas, because Naminé and Kairi saved him and got him back to me. So now I'm going to do to you what you tried to do to him."<br>"Liam, please-"  
>"Sora!" I snapped. "Get it right."<br>"I could work with you, you know."  
>"You really expect me to take you up on that? What is it you say at times like this? Oh yes – as if! I've had enough of you. Go to whatever waits beyond for Nobodies, Xigbar. Your life here is done."<br>Xigbar dropped like a stone without my Keyblade holding him to the wall. As I'd done with Xaldin, I sent a collection of spells after him to ensure he wasn't coming back.  
>"About time," a voice almost identical to my own said. I'd completely forgotten about the Replica of me Xigbar had left there. It was now awake, holding the copy of my Kingdom Key ready to attack. "I thought you'd never get rid of him."<br>"Who're you meant to be? Besides me, that is." I asked him.  
>"Xigbar called me Xen," he replied. "Said if he ever fell to you, I was to get ya back for it. If I get rid of you see, everything of yours becomes mine instead. I become real, and you... well, you just cease to exist."<br>"You're no match for me. Just give up and be done with it."  
>"Oh no, none of that. Replicas have to follow the commands programmed into them. And I have to destroy you, Liam."<br>_Take him up on it,_ Roxas advised me. _If you can keep him busy long enough, I've got an idea that will help us a lot. I'll need Sora to be paying attention for it to fully work, but that shouldn't be a problem.  
><em>"You guys take a rest," I told Axel and Donald. "Leave this imposter to me."  
>Xen looked irritated at being called an imposter, but held back, apparently not willing to attack just yet. In response, first I called on my second Keyblade, then I used Teleport once more, this time taking inspiration from the brief battle I'd had with the mysterious Neku to appear behind Xen and strike before he had the chance to react.<br>Two things were apparent as he quickly moved clear, watching me warily. He lacked my darkness, and he lacked a considerable portion of my available magic. He really was outmatched here. Roxas told me to avoid using either darkness or powerful magic, as he wanted Xen intact for his plan to work.  
>To preserve the Replica then, I kept magic out of the fight except where needed. It was in many ways reminiscent of the duel with Vanitas I'd had, keeping it to Keyblades alone. Like Vanitas, he had trouble combating an opponent with two Keyblades, even though I was going easy on him. I even went to the point of repeating the same series of slashes at him every time, hoping he might learn and become a bit more of a challenge, but it seemed he was incapable of it.<br>Finally Roxas gave me the signal to go on the offensive, but again with limits – he merely wanted Xen disarmed, then for me to use the previously unused Esuna spell on him, followed by Thundara. I had no idea why he wanted that combination, but trusted him and casted the two.  
>Interestingly, Xen appeared to be hurt rather than healed by Esuna, and after Thundara hit him he sank down, kneeling on the floor with a glazed expression.<br>_Now we wait,_ Roxas told me. _And hope Sora and I got this right.  
><em>Got what right though?


	91. Luck of the Draw

Xigbar's Replica of me, named for whatever reason by him as Xen, remained kneeling for some time with glazed eyes, swaying slightly as if dazed. One hand still held the copy of the Kingdom Key, the tip resting on the floor. Once in a while Xen would twitch slightly, causing it to tap the floor again. Axel jumped every time that happened, apparently concerned that it might be a cue for Xen to get up and attack again.  
><em>Any moment now,<em> Roxas told me, sounding almost excited.  
>"What're you up to, Roxas?" I didn't bother to keep my voice down – both Donald and Axel knew about him.<br>_You remember Naminé told you that even with your Glider, the chances were we'd be stuck with just you and Riku? Well Xen there is going to be part of my arrangements to get you another ally.  
><em>"You're enlisting the same Replica that just decided to attack me?" I asked him flatly. "Have you lost your mind?"  
><em>Just wait. You'll see what I'm up to soon.<br>_I relayed most of that to Axel and Donald, while up on the floor above Demyx and Goofy emerged alongside Riku and Kairi, just in time to see Heartless come in through the same passageway I had done when Kingdom Hearts delivered me safely back to the present. They'd be able to handle most of them.  
>"But where's the King?" Donald wondered.<br>"He's with Ansem," Xen told us, getting back to his feet, then looking himself over. "Well, I guess it could be worse." He looked at each of us, ready to fight him again if we had to, then laughed. "Don't you recognise me?" I was asked. "After all, Roxas and I did sort of trick you into taking on the two of us alone, back in the Garden of Assemblage."  
>"Oh, very clever," I nodded appreciatively, realising what they'd done. Xion might have been forgotten by most, but Roxas remembered him, and had preserved some of him in the replica data back at the Garden of Assemblage. He'd just made use of them and Sora to overwrite Xen with Xion. "So what do we call you now – Xion, or Xen?"<br>"Xion?" Axel looked thoughtful. "Hey, I remember now! But why did I forget you?"  
>"Because of my nature," Xion shrugged. "I like both names, but I think I'll stick with Xion. I'm used to it, after all."<br>_At least this time, there's no one around to re-program him into fighting me again, _Roxas confided. _You might want to give him one of your Keyblades too. That Kingdom Key isn't going to do much by itself.  
><em>I already knew which Keyblade I'd hand over, but it was the only one I didn't have yet. I was expecting the two moogles to show up again with the reforged Ultima Weapon very soon.  
>With Xen, now Xion, no longer a threat to us, we quickly followed to route onwards to rejoin Demyx and Goofy. Riku had given Kairi the Destiny's Embrace Keyblade, and he fought alongside us with the new form of Soul Eater, the Way to the Dawn Keyblade.<br>It did seem a little odd that he wasn't as skilled with it while he bore Ansem's appearance, but perhaps there was something going on there I wasn't aware of. Like Axel though, he recognised Xion once Donald explained it to him, as did Demyx.  
>While the Heartless were only Shadows, there were a lot of them. More than once one of us came to Kairi's aid. During one of those times, I briefly thanked her for saving Roxas for me.<br>"Who else is going to keep you out of trouble?" she replied with a sly grin.  
>"How about me?" Riku said in passing. "I'm forever keeping Sora out of trouble."<br>"He doesn't know?" Kairi murmured.  
>I shook my head, "Best leave that one to me."<br>The Heartless formed a kind of trail that lead back outside, then once more in again to Proof of Existence, where there are tombstones for each of the members of the Organization. Broken for those members who had been destroyed, but intact for those that remained. Axel and Demyx briefly touched their own ones, causing the red portal inside to turn green, allowing us past once the remaining two had been handled. Roxas's, while also damaged, still held the glow that showed he too had never been defeated.  
>"First up is Luxord," I told the others, more because I had a plan. "He'll try to prevent you from taking part by using his cards, but if we stick close he'll have a harder time – and an even harder one if you attack the cards as they appear. Burn them or cut them apart, either way they'll lose their power."<br>"I get it," Riku continued for me. "The more cards we destroy, the less power he has, until he's defenceless."  
>"Don't be too quick to say that," Xion warned. "He always has another deck of cards on him. I wouldn't put it past him to have several decks for this."<br>"Then we'll take on each new deck the same way," Axel told us.  
>"But if we're in the middle of a fight with him, we could get separated. He might even be able to get some of us out of the battle," Demyx pointed out.<br>"We'll have to take that as it happens," I shrugged. "We can't stand around here talking all day – let's go."  
>The portal of Luxord's gravestone took us to Havoc's Divide, a wide, open space where we could clearly see Ansem the Wise had begun to encode Kingdom Hearts. No doubt Mickey was already up there defending him from the Heartless.<br>I'd expected someone to ask about it, but interestingly no one did. Maybe they'd just grown used to my explaining the important things as we went along, and trusted that since I didn't mention it, it wasn't worth being concerned about.  
>"I thought you said Luxord was going to be here?" Donald asked me.<br>"He'll be here," I replied, keeping a wary eye out for him. "After a few passes I made last time he and I met, he won't pass up the chance to get his own back on me."  
>We moved cautiously to the center of Havoc's Divide, ensuring there was no blind angle for Luxord to surprise us from as we waited for him to make his appearance. He did not, but his cards did, flitting around trying to find some way to separate us.<br>Those of us on the edges of our group attempted to slice into the cards, while Axel, Donald and I tried to get them with various fire magic. They moved too quickly to properly handle though, and our efforts accomplished little.  
><em>Idea for you, Lee,<em> Roxas nudged me. _Remember Zexion?  
><em>He didn't have to say any more. I had Axel take my place on the edge, calling for Wisdom form enhanced with Zexion's Book of Retribution. A quick search through found exactly what I was after – a barrier made of fire.  
>In keeping it controlled, covering as small an area as possible over us, I was able to reduce the magic cost, then supply that magic back to it to power it up. Each card that impacted it now, went away on fire. Before long, we had a storm of fireballs rapidly burning themselves out around us.<br>But still Luxord did not show himself. It was clear that we were going to have to take some risks if we were going to lure him out.  
>"Riku, Kairi, Demyx, Goofy – I want you four to form a second group," I told them quietly.<br>"That'll give Luxord the chance to eliminate us," Riku warned.  
>"I know. I'm gambling on that. Don't forget what I said about destroying the cards if you can. Goofy, I know Donald taught you a bit of basic magic – make use of it if you need. The rest of you, go with Xion and do the same, separate from me."<br>"You'll be left by yourself if he gets rid of both our groups," Xion told me worriedly.  
>"Again – I'm gambling here. Luxord knows we can hold off his attacks, but we can't win this by being defensive. We've got to lure him out, and if he thinks he can remove all of you, I'm hoping he'll show himself as he tries to."<br>Our group rearranged themselves around me until the two groups were on either side, keeping close until they were ready. Then I remained in the middle while each moved clear in differing directions.  
>At first glance, it appeared my gamble had paid off – the cards came again, ignoring me but focusing on the two groups. Riku's group started to pick up on the best way to attack the cards by hand, with Goofy trying some fire spells when he thought he could get away with it, and it seemed for now they could hold them off.<br>Xion's group was doing slightly better with Axel setting many cards alight easily, but soon the cards began to avoid him – only to be caught by some well placed fire spells from Xion and Donald. I'd forgotten Xion had his own magic too. Around them, a new collection of ignited cards appeared, but without a barrier to protect them, the cards continued their assault, some even heading for Riku's group.  
>Kairi and Xion both had the same idea at the same time though, casting a Reflect spell over them that protected them from the main assault of cards. So far the plan was working, now if Luxord would just make his own appearance...<br>_Lee – behind you!_ Roxas warned.  
>I didn't bother to turn, I just used Teleport to move back a ways. Luxord appeared before me, staring at where I'd been with what appeared to be a cutlass in one hand. What had possessed him to take up that? Unless of course... he'd taken the gamble that I'd expect him only to fight with cards, and prepared accordingly. Little sneak.<br>Most of that occurred to me later though. Right now I repeated what I'd finished Lexaeus with.  
>"Excuse me," I said, trying not to laugh as I tapped one shoulder. "Thanks," I grinned again when he turned to look, then hit him in the face with the flat of Gilded Light. This left him disoriented and open to attack, something I capitalized on while I still had the chance.<br>Luxord eventually managed to get clear of my own attacks, then noticed Xion's group were closing in, having dealt with their card attack, with Riku's not far behind. Xion even launched a few spells at Luxord as he hastily pulled out yet another pack of cards, which renewed the attack that had been failing, and keeping Xion's group away from me.  
>Then he turned on me, and turned out to be a fair swordsman, another thing I had not anticipated. To further complicate the matter, he used his own magic to excess – using Slow spells on me specifically. I returned the favour several times, but unlike me Luxord had the counter to this, the Haste spell. When used twice in a row, he became far faster, while with me Slowed I was the one being left open now.<br>His Slowing of me had prolonged how long I'd remained in Wisdom Form though, and where it specialized in magic, it provided the perfect platform for me to nullify both Slow and Haste spells easily. The moment he began to cast Slow on me again from the previous one wearing off, I put out the modified Reflect spell I'd used to deny Vanitas access to anything but his Keyblade, the anti-magic area. This time with a large area of effect – I wasn't letting him go anywhere but outside Havoc's Divide to get his magic back, and once more a touch of darkness added and he was denied even a dark corridor.  
>Of course, this also left both Riku's and Xion's groups without magic, and the two had to work harder to combat the card assault still preventing them from coming to my aid. Just for good measure, Luxord added another two packs to ensure they wouldn't interfere with our own fight.<br>Without Haste, Slow or any magic available to him, he was also forced to resort to physical attacks. But strangely he did not seem to be so competent with his cutlass any more, it was as if I'd somehow deprived him of his skill.  
>"A magic blade," I exclaimed, realizing this. "That's why you were good with it before – it was the blade providing the skill, and since I nullified magic-" I broke off and into a broad grin. "Time's up, Luxord," I smirked, then quickly set about disarming him so I could finish this troublesome Nobody off.<br>Luxord wasn't out of tricks yet though – the two decks he'd added hadn't just been to trouble either group of friends, they'd provided the basis for a second, two-fold attack on me.  
>"Cards!" he called, drawing away from me, and a group of cards drew up in a circle around him. Then, "Scatter!" The cards around him attacked me, leaving an empty space where they had been. Luxord had vanished.<br>Roxas gave me both the explanation and my next move, _Watch the cards – he's hiding in one of __them, strike that one to force him out.  
><em>Easier said than done, as each card presented its back to me. "Riku," I called. "Watch the cards on me – I need to know which one has Luxord on! You too, Xion!"  
>"Behind you now," one of them called back, but the attack was too late; Luxord's card had moved on. It was one less card to worry about though.<br>Between their guidance and narrowing the cards down further, I finally evicted Luxord from his card, allowing me another round of attacks on him. He was starting to improve again, so I renewed the anti-magic barrier. Clearly for one of this size, how long it could last was an issue. This time though, I left the darkness out of it, gambling that Luxord would expect me to leave it in. Riku noticed the difference almost immediately, but Luxord's back was to him at the time so he did not pick up on the same.  
>Luxord the cards toward him again, vanishing once more. Now the cards menacing both groups joined those, and with a disembodied call of, "Do you know the rules?" they lay flat on the area floor.<br>"No – leave them alone!" I quickly warned the others. "I've got another plan." Wisdom form, though running low on time, was still with me – long enough for me to activate one last illusion, an illusion that projected the other side of the cards onto the backs we could see.  
>I gestured for the others not to show we knew thanks to that where Luxord was hiding, then Riku, Kairi, Xion and I gathered around his card. I brought him out, letting him realize he was now surrounded, then the four of us neatly finished him off.<br>"You play the game well," he complimented me as he faded away. "Luck... was not with me today." Then he was gone.  
>"Luck's a fickle mistress," I said to no one in particular. "You never know when she might turn on you."<p> 


	92. The Lunar Diviner

When we returned to Proof of Existence, Riku paused, sniffing at the air.  
>"I can sense Saïx," he told us. "He's using something to boost his power. If we can figure it out, we might be able to use it too."<br>"I doubt that," I replied. "Saïx's element is the moon, and Kingdom Hearts is a moon. The real Kingdom Hearts you have to persuade to help you – I suspect this one is only doing it because Saïx was in some measure responsible for its creation."  
>"When did you become an expert on Kingdom Hearts?" Axel asked me curiously.<br>"When Xigbar put me in the past, I had to find a way back. So I appealed to Kingdom Hearts instead. I can't say it was the best way, but I really couldn't be putting up with a ten-year wait just to carry on with you guys."  
>"So what's the strategy for Saïx then?"<br>"I haven't figured that out yet," I admitted. "Don't be surprised if Roxas shows up though – I get the feeling he wants a crack at Saïx too."  
><em>Nice to see you didn't forget me.<br>_The portal of Saïx's gravestone led us to Addled Impasse, which reminds me somewhat of the Grey Area. That's a little higher up though.  
>Saïx himself seemed entranced by their Kingdom Hearts, even now with a stream of hearts flowing to it, all the while being encoded by Ansem. Perhaps one was countering out the other, but as Ansem himself says – hearts are unpredictable. There's no telling for sure what was going on there.<br>"Only you could have made it this far in one piece, Liam," Saïx said, not bothering to turn around.  
>"Y'know, that's really starting to get old now," I told him.<br>"You should at least explain why we call you that," he replied reprovingly. "Roxas agreed with me on that point."  
><em>One of the few things I ever did agree with him on, not that I like to admit he and I have anything in common.<br>_"I'll explain it when I want to. It's none of your business telling me when I should – or others, for that matter. Until then... the name's Sora."  
>"Different name, same fate," Saïx shrugged. Then he turned to Axel and went on, "What about you, Lea? Will you turn on me too?"<br>"I already did," he answered. "Don't you remember what happened in the Beast's Castle?"  
>I recalled the message I'd left with Isa for Saïx, and when Saïx made no reply to Axel I said, "Did you ever get my message, by the way?"<br>"Message?" he asked blankly.  
>"Oh yes. I gave you a message when you were still Isa, remember? When Lea and Ventus were having their little play-fight?"<br>Saïx thought for a moment, then his eyes narrowed, his massive claymore coming into one hand.  
>"Let's see you make good on that then, Liam. Defeat me – if you can!"<br>He made a thrust with the claymore in an attempt to push back everyone except me, but I'd expected this. I cast a mass-Aero spell on all of us, which in turn nullified the effects, except for the barrier that should have kept them separate from me. Instead, it merely kept us in.  
>Despite his lack of a heart, Saïx can be convincingly and almost terrifyingly berserk at times. Such as the start of that battle, where he charged at us, swinging the claymore almost wildly. Where it hit the floor, massive shockwaves emanated from the point of contact, and when either Xion or I drew clear enough to avoid his attacks he threw the claymore at us instead, charged with energy that only made them hurt more.<br>Xion managed to avoid one of the thrown attacks though, seizing the claymore to turn it on Saïx – who seemed to have a limitless supply of them, but in his berserk state did not notice Xion advancing on him.  
>Though like Roxas and me, Xion was not adept at wielding the claymore, he did manage to bar Saïx's path with it, the force of the downward blow he'd attempted to make sending him instead upwards. I took up the claymore he'd dropped, then both Xion and I joined forces for a string of rapid attacks between us.<br>The claymores disappeared from our hands when Saïx hit the floor, and Saïx himself appeared to have lost his berserk state. While the others had kept clear during the commotion with the claymores, now they joined the battle in force. Demyx went in not with water forms, but going for him with his sitar, closely followed by Axel. Riku held Kairi back momentarily, but then she had words with him before she also joined the fight. Riku did not look entirely happy about this, but joined in anyway.  
>With Xion now freed up, I had him take over from the magical backup Donald and Goofy were supplying, then had them give me a hand into Final Form – one that had previously seen little use, because it required at least two friends present to activate.<br>In this form, much like Wisdom form, I could control the Keyblades actions by thinking about it, freeing up my hands. Of course, in Wisdom form I only had one such Keyblade to control – managing two took me a little longer to figure out, since I periodically sent what I wanted to the wrong one.  
>Once I'd figured out a simple way of directing the two of them how I wanted (I just had to think of the Keyblade I wanted to command first), I went on to unleash my own magic on Saïx from a safe distance, while my Keyblades attacked him from various angles.<br>The down-side of this was that he quickly went berserk again, forcing Axel and Demyx to fall back. I briefly cancelled Final Form and then re-called it including them, so that like Donald and Goofy, they would be protected so long as I remained in that form – not to mention the further boosts to power and magic it allowed me. Roxas's help with my forms like this was invaluable at times.  
>Riku projected a dark barrier over himself and Kairi, protected the two of them from any attacks, leaving Saïx with only Xion and me as targets – and I could attack him with impunity given that I no longer needed to hold my Keyblades in this form.<br>On the other hand, Xion lacked any such advantage, and so Saïx aimed primarily for him. With Final Form allowing me at least some limited ability to glide through the air, and float just above it otherwise, I could move rapidly though, intercepting most attacks he made before they reached Xion, or simply getting him out of harms way.  
>Saïx appeared to notice this, and decided to come after me instead – I was the greater threat, after all. This was exactly what I wanted him to do.<br>Instead of stealing a claymore from him, I simply had Roxas lend my Lexaeus's Skysplitter to attack with. Now, keeping two Keyblades fighting had been a challenge by itself – doing that while also fighting with this, that was taxing, especially under pressure.  
>I made use of my ability to move quickly to avoid most attacks and get into a better position to react and strike back. The Keyblades I kept always behind him, while I tried to outflank and disarm him. If I could get his claymore away from him even once, Xion could rejoin the fight again.<br>Saïx managed to cut through my defences fairly easily with some of his wider swings, but Xion was ready to send Cure magic my way as needed. Having him along with us was definitely a good thing.  
>Once, Saïx sent me crashing into him, and he pointed out something I hadn't considered.<br>"You can borrow their weapons, right?" he said. "So why not borrow his claymore the same way you're borrowing that?" He pointed to Skysplitter. "Then I can take it, instead of you having to separate Saïx from his."  
>Once more, I felt a little stupid for not thinking of that. Roxas and Xion can do that to me easily.<br>With that solved and Xion holding a claymore that Saïx couldn't take back, we resumed our attack and knocked him back out of his berserk state once more, at the same time Master Form finishing, having run its course.  
>Knowing Roxas wanted his own back on Saïx too, I chose to wait and ease up just slightly on him until I was up to pulling out another Drive form. That didn't take long though, as Roxas quietly reported Sora had reluctantly taken a hand in things so he wouldn't miss the chance. I imagine if Saïx knew he was up against Sora too, and what Sora could do, he'd have more than a few regrets about taking us on.<br>I forgot to change the Keyblades to Roxas's two, so when I called on him and turned control over to him, he was left with only one Keyblade. Gilded Light, though it belonged to me, seemed to accept Roxas just as easily.  
>Saïx was not berserk at that time, but quickly rounded on Roxas once he realized he was present. He bore the attacks, lashing out where he could, but not being too concerned about the damage Saïx was dishing out. I was, but Roxas told me to shut up and let him get on with it.<br>"I will leave you with nothing!" Saïx growled, getting ready to finish us both off.  
>"You're finished," Roxas replied though, calling on his normal Limit Break – Event Horizon. His attacks not only disarmed Saïx on the first blow, but sent him reeling back from each and every one of them.<br>Saïx continued to stumble back after the last strike, where healing magic came from various directions, just in case Saïx wasn't finished off.  
>"A heart," Saïx breathed weakly, turning to reach out imploringly to their Kingdom Hearts. "If I only had a heart..."<br>"Maybe you should have thought of that before you turned it over to the darkness," Roxas told him.  
>"Or maybe... you shouldn't have turned on us... Roxas."<br>"I told you on the first day you put me to work, Saïx. I do what I want to, and I only did what you wanted me to because it was necessary."  
>"But what you could have had..." he never finished his sentence.<br>"I know what I could have had," Roxas said. "But there's one thing I picked up from my other – a sense of right and wrong."  
>"Don't I know it," Axel muttered. "You and Xemnas were forever having that argument out."<br>"Is that what all that shouting was about?" Demyx asked curiously. "Did he ever win?"  
>"Of course not," Roxas snorted. "You think I'd ever give him the chance? And what're you looking at?" he added to Riku, who'd been looking on in amusement.<br>"Oh, nothing," he replied. "I'm just remembering a certain boy I saw in Ansem's simulation of Twilight Town, that's all."  
>Roxas said nothing, but even I could tell he was faintly embarrassed by something before he cancelled the form himself, so I had to take over again.<br>"I imagine if I asked either of you..." I began.  
>"Not my place to say," Riku replied. "Ask Roxas."<br>_Forget it,_ Roxas told me. Sometimes I wonder just what happened to him in his life. Maybe someday I'll get him to tell that story too.


	93. Clearing the air

With Luxord and Saïx now out of the picture and only Xemnas remaining, the route to Naught's Approach was opened for us. Ordinarily, the first thing you encounter on this route is Mickey and Ansem the Wise, but Xion paused part way along the route.  
>"Sora... could we make a little detour?" he asked me.<br>"A detour where, exactly?"  
>"Just here," he pointed to the wall. "You can't see it when it's closed, but this way leads to the Grey Area."<br>"If it's closed-"  
>"Let me," Axel interrupted, laying a hand on the wall. A part of it shimmered and vanished. "Riku, would you stay with everyone else? We won't be long. Coming with us, Demyx?"<br>"I'll stay, thanks. You three go ahead."  
>I almost asked who the third was, but remembered Roxas just in time, so joined the two of them down and into the Grey Area. It looked exactly as I've always seen it when playing through Roxas's story, just deserted.<br>"We can't stay long, you know," I warned them.  
>"Oh, hush," Xion told me. "You know we're not going to miss anything."<br>Axel had looked around, then spotted something just beside the entrance.  
>"Hey, are you still here little guy?" he asked someone, then I realized who – the moogle who'd set up shop was still here, even keeping the Organization coat it had worn.<br>"I was waiting for Sora," it told him, then floated over, took one of my hands and dropped something into it. "You know who arranged for it," it told me. "Good luck." Then it disappeared into it's own dark corridor. Was that a Nobody Moogle?  
>"What did he give you?" Xion asked curiously.<br>I opened my hand to show him the gilded heart token, now with a crown attached too, that was the keychain for the reforged Ultima Weapon.  
>"Here," I said. "You take it, in place of that Kingdom Key. I'll be fine with my Keyblades."<br>"Are you sure? I mean, he gave it to you."  
>"And I'm giving it to you – take care of it for me, Xion."<br>Xion seemed reluctant to take it, but didn't protest any further. I wasn't certain if her copy-Keyblade would react to a real keychain like a real Keyblade would, but once attached it flashed into the form of Ultima Weapon, which looked somewhat more impressive than it had done the last time I'd seen it. This was a reforged version though, so perhaps that was why.  
>While no one said anything further after that, it seemed that was the only reason we'd come here – and I suspected it was only because of someone else's 'encouragement' we'd even bothered. Sometimes Sora is a little obvious about these things.<br>The next thing to do once we rejoined the others was to continue on and meet Ansem and Mickey.  
>"Sora!" Mickey exclaimed. "You're here at last!"<br>"I got a little held up," I admitted, then looked over to Ansem. "We meet again, Ansem."  
>"Have we met before?" he asked, faintly puzzled as he tried to hold the struggling device. "I don't seem to recall..."<br>"Not exactly. Do you remember who delivered Xehanort to you, eleven years ago? The one who couldn't show who he was?"  
>"That was... I see." he nodded, apparently understanding. "You must forgive me Sora... the rest here is up to you. And Roxas, though I doubt you can hear me..."<br>"I can," Roxas told him, borrowing my voice again. "You don't have to apologise – I knew it was necessary. Didn't Riku tell you I did it willingly?"  
>"I found it hard to believe," Ansem answered, looking back up toward Kingdom Hearts. "After all... you were just a Nobody to me. I did not want to believe... could not believe that anyone would make such a sacrifice as you did."<br>"You didn't count on Ventus's heart though. When I was formed, it resided with me – that's why I look like him."  
>Ansem didn't reply, instead renewing his efforts to hold the device still for longer.<br>"Ansem, no!" Mickey cried out, apparently seeing something I hadn't.  
>"My heart is telling me what I must do, old friend," Ansem told Mickey. "I must do what it says!"<br>"But-"  
>"His heart's decided," Riku told the little King, holding him back. "We can't change that."<br>"I was wondering who would dare interfere with my Kingdom Hearts," Xemnas's voice mused as he exited a corridor. "And look – here you all are. I should have expected it would be you, Ansem the Wise... you look pathetic."  
>"Have your laugh," Ansem retorted, not looking over. "I deserve as much for failing to see you for the fool you are."<br>"Students do take after their teachers, and only a fool would be your apprentice. After all, if it hadn't been for you, the Heartless would never exist. It was your work that caused me to go further than you dared."  
>"My disregard may have brought chaos to more worlds than one. But what were you seeking? Erasing me from the world, taking my name and delving into secrets best left untouched – what were you looking for?"<br>"I'm merely carrying on what you began – creating a new world, one heart at a time. I thought you'd praise me, but all you do... all you've ever done, is hold me back. But I understand – you have a heart, and are powerless to control it. Envious of what I've achieved and you never could."  
>"Xehanort, you are a foolish apprentice of a foolish man," Ansem sighed. "You have only proved we are as ignorant as when we began. Any world you create would be an empire of ignorance, and that," he looked over to Xemnas at last. "Is why you and your creation have always been doomed to fall!" The device underneath him began to spark and crackle, becoming more violent in the shaking. "We've said enough! Riku, you know what to do, and Mickey, my friend... forgive me! Farewell!"<br>Riku grabbed Mickey and shielded Kairi, while interestingly Xion protected Axel, who in turn kept Demyx from what came next. Goofy of course put himself between the device and Donald, while I just stood and waited. I knew what was coming next – Roxas had seen it and forewarned me, and I was not entirely looking forward to it.  
>Xemnas disappeared just in time, as the device exploded into a blinding incandescence that left glares in the eyes for some time afterwards, darkened only by silhouettes where people had been stood.<br>As sight returned, the damage to Kingdom Hearts was clearly visible, along with the shower of hearts that were calling to vast amounts of Heartless in the city below, all of them starting to head upwards into the castle for a better chance at consuming more of them.  
>Riku, while still wearing the Organization coat he'd had before, was restored to his own appearance, complete with the now-useless blindfold. This prompted me to give myself a look over, proving that Roxas had seen correctly – while this was still Sora's body I occupied, the same detonation that had given Riku back his form had forced it to take on my own appearance. Fortunately, the clothes I'd been given, being inherently magic, had already altered themselves to fit. I'm a little slimmer than Sora is, and not quite as tall as he is, so if they hadn't done it I would have been left with the opposite of when I'd woken up as him in Twilight Town.<br>"I guess I knew it was gonna happen sometime," I sighed, more to provide a starting point for the inevitable explanation I'd have to give. Since I don't even sound similar to Sora, all eyes looked to me.  
>Axel recovered first. "You look like..."<br>"Like I did," Xion finished for him. "But actually it's the other way around... isn't it Liam?"  
>I nodded, "I'm sorry I lied to you all about who I am. I'm not Sora, I just... well, something happened and I ended up in his life, looking like him. He's alright too, before anyone asks."<br>"And you didn't tell anyone because you thought it would change how things would turn out," Kairi continued for me. "But some of us found out anyway."  
>"Well I could hardly hide it from you, not since you left me to protect your heart," I replied. "And Mickey knew from Yen Sid, who I told my real name when Xigbar sent me back in time."<br>"And Roxas and I know because we're your Nobody and Replica," Xion added.  
>"We knew too," Axel said. "The Organization, that is. I never found out how."<br>"Xigbar overheard me tell someone else my real name, back when he was still Braig," I explained, then glanced up to Riku. "Going to take that blindfold off? You don't need it anymore, you know."  
>"But Ansem-"<br>"Is gone. That's why you look like yourself again. Trust me Riku... even though I did sort of lie to you a fair bit."  
>"I figure if it's been you for as long as I think its been... I can trust you," Riku told me, removing the blindfold. That remark was unexpected, since out of all of them I'd expected him to be a bit more distrustful of me.<br>"And the coat?" I prompted.  
>"Hey, give me a break already," Riku said. "I've still got some darkness remember."<br>"So did Terra, and so do I, but neither he or I bothered with a coat like that. Take a leaf out of my book – watch how you use it, keep it under control, and ignore it when it tries to persuade you to use it."  
>"I dunno, taking advice from someone I don't even properly know," he said in mock dismay, then discarded the coat.<br>"'kay, Sora – I mean, Liam," Mickey said then. "You and your Nobody know what's gotta happen next, right?"  
>"Of course," I replied. "We go after Xemnas. Don't worry about the Heartless coming up behind us, as long as we keep moving until a certain person who owes me a favour shows up, they won't trouble us."<br>"I hope you're right about that – there's a lot of 'em."  
>"Trust me, your Majesty," I grinned. "After all – I got us this far, didn't I?"<br>"But what about-" Donald started, still staring at me.  
>"You can ask him more about this later," Mickey said firmly. "Right now, we gotta deal with Xemnas."<br>And that neatly got us back on track, without having to worry about further explanations – at least for now, anyway. Having the King as a travelling companion has its moments, even if it does seem a bit odd to have him following my directions.  
>Once we left the area where Ansem had been, we moved on into an area known as Ruin and Creation's Passage, though Roxas tells me that's not the right name. It's the place with all the floating hexagon platforms, and the stairs at the far end.<br>We fought our way through here, dealing with yet more Nobodies and the start of the Heartless that were pouring in. Roxas kept himself busy by 'working on something useful' again, though I couldn't see what that might be. At least it was productive, I guess.  
>The Heartless followed us though, called by our various Keyblades – Riku now fighting much better with his own appearance rather than Ansem's. Kairi too, now she was practically surrounded by Keyblade wielders, also picked up a bit more skill.<br>"There's gonna be no end to this," Riku muttered, seeing them come in through the windows too now. "Where's your help, huh Liam?" he demanded of me.  
>"Oh, be patient. She'll be here any moment now, we just have to hold them off until then."<br>As if on cue, Maleficent's green flames deposited her and Pete in front of us.  
>"Be gone from here!" she commanded. "Leave these creatures to us!"<br>"Consider this that favour you owe me, Maleficent," I told her. "Keep them out of our way."  
>"Maleficent," Riku said almost in disbelief. "Maleficent owes you a favour."<br>"I did something that helped her because it was necessary," I shrugged. "I didn't like it, but it had to happen."  
>While Riku and I had been talking, Pete had decided to try and leave, only to meet Mickey.<br>"Well, if it ain't the boat-boy King."  
>"Time to weigh anchor, Captain Pete!" Mickey told him.<br>"What, like 'abandon ship'? I don't think so!"  
>Maleficent looked over one shoulder at us to say, "Master Liam! 'Your Majesty'! Do not forget, when I have destroyed them all, this castle shall be mine!"<br>"Master Liam?" Mickey asked me in awe.  
>"Blame Eraqus," I told him absently. "I hate to tell you Maleficent, but this castle isn't going to make it once we've defeated Xemnas – you're gonna have to move on."<br>"You forget, Master Liam – with knowledge of what is to come, I can prepare for it," she replied. "I mean to make this my own realm, even if I must hold it together with my own magic! Now go!"  
>"Opportunities like this don't come along every day, ya know," Pete murmured to Mickey, then rejoined Maleficent. "Bring 'em on!"<br>"They'll be overwhelmed," Axel shook his head. "We can't just leave them to it."  
>"They're doing what their hearts command," Mickey told him. "We can't interfere."<br>"But we can help," I said. "Roxas, would you object if I had your Samurai Nobodies lend them a hand?"  
><em>Already did – they're attacking the Heartless from behind.<br>_Like me, he tries to think of everything. Once I passed that on, and explained to Maleficent I'd appreciate it if they left our Samurais alone, we continued onwards. The Altar of Naught and Xemnas awaited us.


	94. Kingdom Heart's Favour

Predictably, Xemnas was busy lamenting over what Ansem and his device had done to his Kingdom Hearts when we arrived at the top of the Alter of Naught. He appeared to notice our arrival, turning to face us.  
>"Warriors of the Keyblade!" he called to us. "Go forth, and bring me more hearts!"<br>"Never," Mickey answered, along with Kairi, Xion and Riku. Like everyone else, they had stopped when Xemnas had turned to face them, while I continued onwards. Kairi almost moved to stop me, but Mickey held her back lightly, understanding this was something I felt I had to do.  
>"I know you remember me, Xemnas," I told him. "You've got at least a few of Xehanort's memories. Did you really think I'd let you run unchecked? That I'd just let you do this?"<br>"Answer me this, Liam. Why do you hate the darkness?"  
>"Excuse me? I have my own darkness and while I don't like having it, I can't say I hate it. But the answer's simple – it's because of who's lurking inside it."<br>"Then allow me another question. You accept darkness, yet choose to live in the light – so why loathe those of us who are almost as nothing, never given the choice?"  
>I paused in my advance and pointed to Riku.<br>"He can't be said to be any less someone of light than me, yet he chose to live in the darkness for a time. As for you and your nothings... it's because you're not even meant to be. You don't even properly exist."  
>"For a hero of light... you are quite prejudiced against us. You accept your own Nobody, but deny all others, save only those who choose to go with you."<br>I turned back to him sharply. "I never once claimed to be a hero," I told him flatly. "Other have called me a hero, the gods of Olympus Coliseum certainly think so, but I have never once called myself a hero, and I don't even think of myself as one. I'm just someone that does what needs to be done, and if there's someone trying to gain power over Kingdom Hearts, even a false image like yours, that's something that has to be stopped. No one should have that kind of power for any reason, least of all someone without a heart, without any morals – someone like you, Xemnas."  
>"And yet, did you not make use of Kingdom Hearts to return from the past which Xigbar exiled you to? How else would you stand here before us once again?"<br>"I appealed to it. I let it decide whether to help me or not. I have no power over it at all, I just asked for it to help me. Whether it has a mind of its own, or there's some higher power that guides what Kingdom Hearts does, I left the choice entirely up to it. It held no obligation to help me, and I'm probably indebted to it for what I asked of it. Maybe sometime it'll call in that favour, maybe not. But the point remains – I hold no power over Kingdom Hearts."  
>Xemnas nodded as if understanding the point – which he may or may not have done, I couldn't tell – then threw up his hands, surrounding the two of us in energy. Various voices called to me, no doubt concerned for me as Xemnas continued his work. Some of the energy arced downwards, creating what appeared to be another Absent Silhouette scene. I knew from what the others had told me that they could see into such scenes, now I was doing the same, looking into a mimicry of Memory Skyscraper.<br>Then abruptly I was in the scene, the surroundings wavering in and out of solidity. It was a partially formed facsimile, not fully complete or real.  
>It may not have been real, but I was – and perhaps unwittingly, Xemnas had provided the grounds for Roxas to come out and be real, just as he had done in the Absent Silhouette battles. He may have intended to challenge me, but he got me and my Nobody together.<br>Roxas had armed himself with our counterpart to Xemnas's Ethereal Blades, though instead of their usual blue or red, one was white and one dark – evidently representations of both the light and dark he and I both had.  
>"You are without your allies now, Liam," Xemnas's voice called. "Not even your Nobody can help you now."<br>"That's what you think," I called back, spotting him on top of the skyscraper. I briefly entertained the idea of running up the side of it, much like Roxas does when he finds Riku at the real counterpart in his story, but instead pushed the limits of my Teleport magic to try and reach the top.  
>Xemnas was not expecting me to appear behind him, much less deliver a crushing blow from behind that sent him stumbling forward and off the top of the skyscraper. He regained himself part way down, disappearing only to reappear not far from Roxas, where he attacked with his own Ethereal Blades.<br>A second Teleport got me almost all the way down, with a short drop to the ground that Xemnas noticed, vanishing once more. I looked up to the top again to see if he'd appeared there, but Roxas quickly redirected my attention.  
>"Behind you!" he called, and without turning I simply reversed the grip on each Keyblade to hold them similarly to Ven, and jabbed sharply backwards. I was rewarded with a satisfying grunt that meant it had definitely caught him.<br>This was followed up with a more convention attack, turning to face him and continuing to attack him, though I didn't yet hold the Keyblades normally. Ven's peculiar way of holding his Keyblade has some interesting points to it that make them a little harder to evade.  
>Then Roxas was beside me, supplementing my attacks. Xemnas wasn't having an easy time of things, at least until he managed to retaliate with one of his blue barriers, last seen in his unexpected appearance in Hollow Bastion. They still hurt a lot, me more than Roxas because they seemed to earth themselves on me – only one shoulder seemed unaffected. The one with my armour on.<br>I fell back to allow Roxas to continue the fight for a moment so I could activate the full armour once more, then took over for him so he could heal himself, having taken a fair bit more damage than I had from the barrier once I'd withdrawn.  
>Just as I'd thought, the barrier and the lightning attack he followed it up with now no longer affected me. Xemnas stopped bothering with those once he realized they were having no effect, returning to the melee we'd had going before. With two Keyblades and a bit more practice behind me than the last time I'd fought him, it wasn't as challenging as it had been.<br>Which is not to say it wasn't difficult, I had to keep focus or he'd manage to get through my attacks, which he did several times. Roxas engaged him to keep him away from me at those points, but without the armour I had he was frequently forced to fall back again to recover.  
>I attempted to use Gravity on Xemnas, thinking that since that had worked last time around it would too, but apparently he'd learned from past experience and found a means to counter it. No such help there.<br>To further complicate things, he called on another trick from that previous battle, summoning many Ethereal Blades and commanding them to attack us both – not just a ring of them sent at us, but sent to attack us as if held by a phantom opponent.  
>Roxas had the counter to this though. As he attacked each blade that focused on him, the red light of Xemnas's blades began to flicker and change to either the white or black of Roxas's own – provided he only struck each with the same blade. I noticed when he was forced to use the dark blade on one that he'd been striking with the light one, the red colour was restored.<br>I had no such ability myself, so had to settle for holding off those that were attacking me, while also trying to handle Xemnas, as I kept myself between him and Roxas. I wasn't going to let him go after Roxas, not since he lacked the armour I had that was nullifying several of his attacks.  
>As each blade changed to either black or white, they turned on their former master though, allowing Roxas to lure the last of the red blades away from me, then between them, him and me, finish him off. With as many blades against him as we had thanks to Roxas, he did not last long.<br>"Don't think this is over yet," Xemnas told me, before fading away.  
>"As if we would," Roxas muttered. "Don't get surprised when we get back," he added to me. "I've finished what I was working on."<br>"No hints to what it is?" I asked mildly.  
>"It's a surprise," he answered, then the view turned white for a moment. When that cleared I was back where I'd been stood at the Alter of Naught, but with one small difference. I hadn't pulled in any Drive forms, but Roxas had somehow made Final Form become the normal form. It wasn't using any form I could tell, but it was definitely Final Form. This could make things interesting.<br>Riku and Mickey were quick to make sure I was alright, but I pointed upwards.  
>"It's not over yet," I told them.<br>Xemnas was talking to the remains of his Kingdom Hearts, thin strands of light circling him. Whether because it was damaged, because it owed its existance to him or just because that's the way it was meant to happen, he disappeared into his Kingdom Hearts, the two of them becoming one together despite the various protests the others called up to them.  
>"Well now how're we supposed to stop him?" Demyx demanded.<br>"Just wait," I replied. "The worlds will show us the path, but they can't act instantly. It takes a little time."  
><em>I think you might be wrong,<em> Roxas told me. _It's not the worlds that are going to give you the door – it's Kingdom Hearts. Don't ask me how I know, but I know this is it calling in that favour you owe it.  
><em>I had hoped that defeating Xehanort's Heartless and closing the Door to Darkness might have counted for that, but I wasn't too concerned by this. After all, it made no difference to me what gave us the door into Xemnas's Kingdom Hearts – only that I finished what I started and defeated him.  
>The door wasn't opened for us though – that we had to do ourselves. Mickey and Riku touched their Keyblades to my left one, while Xion and Kairi did the same for my right, then I touched the two together, aimed for the door. It probably wasn't necessary for all of us to unlock it so, but you never know – the Keyblades are like hearts, unpredictable.<br>"Liam," Riku said after it had swung ponderously open. "Was it you I saw at the Door to Darkness?"  
>"Yeah, that was me then, why?"<br>"Just something that I thought of. Last time we were on different sides of the door, this time..."  
>"This time we're on the same side," I finished. "Now, anyone know a good battle cry?"<br>"What?"  
>"Well, it's traditional when you're going into a battle like this, you've got to have one."<br>"Are you sure you're not Sora?" Riku asked me suspiciously.  
>"Hey – would Sora have said what I did when you threw that Paopu fruit at me?"<br>Riku turned slightly red.  
>"What's this?" Kairi asked, looking amused. "You offered him a Paopu?"<br>"It... it was a misunderstanding!" Riku covered quickly.  
>"Come on," I said once the laughing had subsided. "We can poke fun at Riku later, right now we should finish this."<p> 


	95. To the World of Nothingness

The inside of Xemnas's Kingdom Hearts was like a world in itself, similar to the streets of Dark City outside but with many more towers, and fewer side streets. Either it was designed this way, or Xemnas had been busy preparing the route for us so he could give us as hard a time as possible.  
>Xemnas himself stood in the distance at the very heart of this world he'd created, clearly expecting us.<br>"So it seems your hearts have led you to obliteration. Perhaps it doesn't pay to be too loyal to one's heart," he mused.  
>"You'd be surprised what good a heart can do," Riku called back to him.<br>Xemnas's answer took the form of a tower breaking away, then being flung down the single wide street that led from us to him. Mickey started to back away with Axel and Demyx not far behind, but when they saw Kairi standing unafraid in the face of this, they stopped and watched my response.  
>A simple Dark Reflect, using a little more darkness than usual, sent the tower hurtling back down toward Xemnas.<br>"Care to try that again, Xemnas?" I called to him. He made no response, so I grinned and continued, "No? Then let me!"  
>There were various startled cries of alarm when the door closed behind us, and more when they noticed that while they had been distracted by that, I'd begun to charge up the street. Various walls that appeared to be similar to the towers sprung up, but these were either avoided or carved through easily. Whatever they were really made of, it put up little resistance to my Keyblades.<br>Riku was first to catch up, and by the time he'd done so Mickey and Xion were leading the rest of my friends and allies after us, following the wake of destroyed walls, and remnants of buildings flung at us. As I'd carried my Dark Reflect ahead of us, most buildings were sent back the way they'd come, but each one weakened it, and as it weakened they stopped being thrown as far – thus providing an additional series of obstacles to be handled.  
>While Roxas had made Final Form's abilities and appearance available to me without needing to draw on the form, I still held the Keyblades in hand, rather than trying to control them with my thoughts. Right now I needed to focus, and it's hard to keep focused on something if you've got to think about your weapons too. Take it from me; I tried it there and almost ended up tripping over the remains of a building.<br>Perhaps inspired by seeing my own use of the darkness, Riku called on his own more than you normally see him do, allowing him to put more power behind his strikes and even restoring the failing Reflect I'd created.  
>As we drew closer to Xemnas's position it became clear he was not stood on or in any kind of tower, instead it was the World of Nothingness in its initial form, still grounded but nevertheless dangerous in itself. When we were nearly at its base, I quickly redirected the Reflect to ahead of us, then as we gathered together I narrowed it to cover just us.<br>The World of Nothingness jumped up into the air as I did so, then slammed back down with a shockwave that destroyed the remains of that Reflect spell, but spared us from any harm at all. Having a spell like that get destroyed is not the best way for one to end though, since that also hurts. More mentally than physically, but no pain is nice.  
>With the Reflect gone, a platform formed beneath us that rapidly rose up to the level of the two large cylinders further up the World of Nothingness, bringing us to the second stage of the fight. As I had done earlier, I split everyone into two groups, sending one to one of the cylinders, then the other to the remaining one.<br>I joined the first group, quickly directing them to smash the Nobodies that appeared into the reactor inside the cylinder. Interestingly, some of the Nobodies that appeared were Gummi variants, but I barely noticed.  
>With more of us present than Sora does, that reactor was down before it ever managed anything, though we had to wait before going to the other reactor as the other group joined us, waiting for it to finish blasting out a red stream of energy. Once it had passed, we all scrambled back over to finish it off. Having more friends around here was proving to make this easier to handle. I suspect Sora might be a little envious of me for that.<br>With both reactors destroyed, the two cylinders had dropped off the World of Nothingness along with the platforms before them. We reached the one that had taken us up here only just in time for some of us, which then in turn brought us up to reach an interior area containing the energy core, in turn protected by a barrier and a mass of Nobodies.  
>As our own Samurais were still busy outside assisting with the Heartless hoard, there were no allies for us to find amongst the Nobodies. Even so, we had our own numbers, and provided we watched our actions in the confined space, the Nobodies were the ones finding it hard to reach us.<br>Because of that lack of space, I relinquished my hold on the Keyblades and concentrated on having them fight on their own, while also persuading Roxas to give me Xigbar's arrowguns. If I was going to stand out the way, I was going to make myself useful somehow, and this seemed like a good idea.  
>Roxas told me otherwise and prudently took them off me again when he noticed I don't exactly have a good aim with them, insisting I stick to magic instead. Magic generally aims itself, which is why I never noticed this problem before.<br>I passed around Curaga several times, though curiously Roxas kept reminding me _not_ to aim it at Xion. Had we not been busy alternating between Nobodies and the energy core when it became unprotected, I would have asked why. He even warned me away from using Esuna on Xion when a Sorcerer Nobody somehow managed to freeze him. I was curious, but too busy to find out the reasoning. I trust my Nobody, if he says not to do something, then I won't.  
>When the energy core also fell destroyed, we were dropped into a wide open area, where before us Xemnas sat on a throne wearing what I can only assume is Master Xehanort's Keyblade armour, wielding a tall blade in one hand. I was forced to reconsider the Mark of Mastery as the key reason for Keyblade Armour functioning, but didn't have time to think about it.<br>"Curse you, Liam!" Xemnas's voice echoed out of the armour at us.  
>"Many have," I answered evenly, then once more headed right for him. His blade may have been large, but in wielding it one handed he had to take time for each strike, which gave me the chance to escape it either by ducking under it, leaping over it or simply using Teleport to get clear, all the while raining attacks on the armour.<br>I could hear the sounds of further fighting behind me, and after dodging another strike from Xemnas I chanced a brief look. The weapons of the deceased Organization members were attacking as though held by phantoms, supplemented by Nobodies of the matching kinds.  
>I fell back from Xemnas, getting clear of his massive reach to intercept Marluxia's scythe, knocking it away from its attack on Donald, then throwing the Keyblades toward the flurry of cards menacing Kairi as I took the scythe in both hand.<br>_Got it,_ Roxas's voice told me, and the scythe vanished. He could steal these weapons off Xemnas through me, which would make things easier. I kept close watch on my Keyblades as they continued to cut up the Luxord's cards, while I sent a Firaga into Vexen's shield, melting it into water Demyx quickly turned into a Water form. Larxene's knives attacked it, but I chanced getting hurt by them in grabbing hold, making them too vanish.  
>Demyx had meanwhile already destroyed Zexion's Lexicon, while Axel and Xion had teamed up to take on Saïx's Claymore. A Thundaga finished it off just as the last of Luxord's cards fell, allowing us to turn our attention to Lexaeus's Skysplitter and Xaldin's lances, both of which were going after Mickey. He had managed to avoid most of the attacks by almost dancing around in a Yoda-like fashion, but hadn't retaliated much. With our focus on them though, they too quickly fell with the last of Xaldin's lances also taken by me.<br>A new round of Nobodies appeared before we handled the lone remaining weapon, Xigbar's arrowguns, but I sent my Keyblades to handle it while the others handled the Nobodies, and I warned each of them away whenever they drew too close to Xemnas.  
>Once the arrowguns were also down, I returned to assaulting Xemnas and the armour. Whenever I got in too close, he half-rose, and tried to use his free hand to scratch at me with the clawed gauntlets he wore, but I simply smashed his hand aside with one Keyblade and continued to attack.<br>He caught me in the side with that blade of his when I blocked that for the last time in this fight, and then I discovered a major flaw in what Roxas had done – I hadn't called on any Drive form, but in making Final form the default, any attack powerful enough would automatically send me into Anti-Form – even if I had my armour out.  
>Anti-form prevented the use of any Keyblade, but it didn't really need one given that it allowed me virtually limitless use of the darkness without any detrimental effects. Sensibility and reason kept me from taking advantage of that too much, but it was what finished the fight.<br>Xemnas swung the blade again, but I caught it on the way down, took hold even though it really did hurt my hands, and then tore it from his grip and flung it away. Then I attacked him with what would otherwise have been reckless abandon.  
>As Anti-Form wore out, I delivered the final blow with an overhand strike to his head. It must have connected, since a great white light seemed to burst from the point of impact, once again blinding us.<br>It cleared to show us back on the Alter of Naught, with Xemnas doubled over in agony, clutching at his chest.  
>"I need... more rage..." he breathed. "More hearts..."<br>"There's more to a heart than rage and anger and hatred," I told him. "There are many more feelings than that. Surely you remember that?"  
>For a brief moment he looked amused, then he answered, "Unfortunately... I don't."<br>Then he too faded away, though as we know, not for good.  
>"You all did great," Mickey told us happily... though as usual, it's hard to tell if that's intentional or not when it comes to him. "Now everything should go back to normal again!"<br>"You're forgetting... we still have to leave," I told him.  
>"And Axel and Demyx are going to need a place to stay," Donald added.<br>"They can come stay with us on the islands for now," Riku decided. "Just let me open a path."  
>Since I'd helped Riku realize that he could work with the darkness, his corridor did form.<br>"Don't go through just yet," I murmured to Xion, then I also asked Riku to wait too.  
>Pluto ran up from inside the castle, barking at us, then was the first to go on through. Goofy led Axel through next, followed by Donald and Demyx, who were in discussions over magic again.<br>Kairi paused, looking back to me. "Do I – do _we_," she corrected herself, remembering Naminé, "Really need to say anything?"  
>"I think we all know what we'd say," Roxas answered for me. "You go on ahead. We'll follow."<br>"You are coming, right?" Mickey asked the last three of us worriedly.  
>"Of course," Xion answered. "We'll just make sure there's nothing left here to threaten anyone, just in case, then we'll be along too."<br>Once Mickey and Kairi had also gone through, Xion, Riku and I were left alone.  
>"Close the corridor, Riku," I said then. "We've got one last fight to handle here. See if you can grab one of those little flying Nobody... whatever they are things," I continued, waving a hand vaguely. I don't even know what they're called.<br>"They'll only take two people, Liam," he told me warningly.  
>"I know. You two take it. I'll be fine, I've got my Glider."<br>"Your _what_?"  
>"You'll see," I answered with a mysterious smile. I'd forgotten no one in the present knew what a Glider was, with the possible exception of Mickey. Aqua doesn't count, since she's somewhere in the Realm of Darkness, and Roxas... well, he can hardly not know.<p> 


	96. Dragon's Dark Flight

Xion was the one to find the flying Nobody that he and Riku would use in the fight to come. He told us it was not a Nobody as I'd thought, merely one of Vexen's various creations.  
>He found it just in time too, since they boarded it just as the World of Nothingness crashed out of the castle's core, the tail slamming into the tower we were at the top of to make it start to topple. With Xion piloting Vexen's flying mech and Riku ready to attack the great Dragon form it had taken, now it was only me left to join in.<br>It'd be the first time I'd summon my Glider in the present, and also the first time since Sora's body had taken on my own appearance. The armour, like my clothes, had adjusted themselves to account for this. The Glider needed no such changes, of course.  
>Riku and Xion had not hesitated to head after the Dragon, nor had they looked back to check on me, trusting me to handle myself as I'd insisted I would. So when I pulled up alongside them aboard the Glider, I got treated to twinned surprised expressions.<br>"Told you I'd be fine with my Glider," I told them. "Try not to hit me, will you?" I added, then went off in pursuit of the Dragon. My Glider moves just a bit quicker than Vexen's mech does.  
>Whether the Dragon could think for itself or Xemnas was controlling it directly, the head turned around as I drew close, spotting me. I kept just out of reach for it to snap at me, while avoiding the various laser attacks that came from across the entire Dragon. The head could shoot a single, more powerful one than the rest, but apparently only if I held still long enough.<br>While I'd been distracting the head, Xion had taken Riku down toward the tail, which he'd been attacking with both the limited weaponry built into the mech Xion flew, and his own Keyblade. I paid little attention to them though, keeping the head's attention on me so the various attacks it made focused on me and not them.  
>They were still attacked by various Gummi Nobodies, but Xion appeared to be adept at multitasking, flying the mech and sending assorted magic at them at the same time. Riku pitched in whenever one got within his reach, and if the dark shadows that followed his Keyblade every time he swung it were any indication, like me he'd accepted he had darkness and wasn't going to let it rule him when he used it. Knowing that is just as powerful as having one of the princesses hearts to protect one's own heart from the darkness.<br>I couldn't keep the attention off them forever though, and before long the Dragon realized I was merely a distraction, refocusing on them. Since I was no longer doing any good as a distraction, I backed up and rejoined Riku and Xion.  
>As before, I held one Keyblade in hand while the other formed my Glider, allowing me to attack just as effectively as they were and as this was not the Lanes Between, still utilize my own magic as well. I headed up and through a bunch of Gummi Nobodies that had just appeared, lashing out with Fatal Crest on one side and a barrage of Fire and Blizzard on the other side. While the magic did not fell as many as Fatal Crest, the remaining enemies had either been frozen, dropping them sharply into Dark City below, or set alight, making them easy targets for Xion to pick off.<br>With that round of enemies defeated I headed for the tail itself now. I knew I could hardly have the same kind of effect as the powered-up laser attack Xion and Riku would fire at it, but they needed time to charge that up.  
>Besides, as I quickly discovered, it <em>really<em> didn't like being attacked directly with a Keyblade, suggesting that this Dragon was not controlled by Xemnas, but a creature – or at least a Nobody – in its own right.  
>The tail lashed out at me, but the head was paying attention to where it was flying, and so it had poor aim for me.<br>"Liam, get clear!" Riku called to me, having to yell just to be heard. I wasted no time in pulling up and out of the way, allowing them to fire that more powerful laser attack of their own. The Dragon gave a screech that sounded like fingernails on a blackboard (Not a pleasant sound, if you've never heard it) then gave several more powerful flaps of its wings to get clear of us as the tail dropped off, all the while being rent apart by detonations down its length. A Nobody, a machine or both? It was hard to tell.  
>While it had drawn ahead and away from us, it was still firing its own barrage of lasers at us, now supplemented by larger lasers shaped like snowflakes that were harder to avoid. The leading edge of one of them caught their mech, the sudden impact jolting Riku off it entirely, as he'd had no time to brace himself for it.<br>I had been headed after the Dragon, but after hearing Riku call to me I quickly turned around and headed after him. Fatal Crest was dismissed, as it would only have gotten in the way. I imagine at that point had I not been wearing the armour too, the force of the air rushing past as I dived down would have been almost painful.  
>I caught Riku with one arm, hauling him up onto the limited space of the Glider behind me, then he wrapped his arms around me to hold on tightly.<br>"I thought you weren't interested in me?" I asked him slyly as I changed course to intercept Xion.  
>"You see anywhere else to hold on?"<br>"Well-"  
>"Never mind," he interrupted, apparently not trusting me to come up with a clean answer. "I'm sure you could come up with a more embarrassing answer."<br>"Mind out of the gutter, Riku," I told him, trying not to laugh. "Anyone would think you thought the worst of me."  
>"I swear Liam, if there was more room on this thing I'd hit you," he threatened.<br>"I guess you'd rather not mention the possibility of falling off again?"  
>"I didn't fall off! It just caught us by surprise."<br>"Of course. Whatever you say. Here's your stop," I added, pulling up alongside Xion. "Try not to lose him this time?" I said to Xion, who was looking amused.  
>"Not a word," Riku told him darkly with a last glance at me. It could have been me, but I'm sure there was the last signs of an embarrassed flush on his face.<br>With Riku back aboard their mech, I returned to pursuing the Dragon only to find it had slowed down again while I'd been teasing Riku some more. It had gained height, and whenever one of us tried to get above it, it banked to one side. We were going to have to deal with the feet of this thing next, not that they actually looked like feet as such.  
>I tried a repeat of my original tactics, acting as a diversion, but this time it was more alert to this deception and would not allow me to get close enough to the head safely, and to further complicate issues I could not get close enough to the feet without enduring a heavy barrage of lasers that forced me away even if I did manage to avoid them.<br>So I fell back and started sending magic at it instead. It had a far lesser effect than the Keyblade or Riku's own attacks, but as they say, every little helps.  
>Then I recalled I didn't need to keep hold of a Keyblade to use it since Roxas had made Final Form my default, though I wasn't certain if that carried over while I wore the armour.<br>It did. Fatal Crest was sent weaving through the lasers to attack the legs, getting through the mass barrage easily because it was just a Keyblade, and because most of the attacks were aimed at me, Xion and Riku instead of it.  
>Xion gave me the signal this time to retrieve it so they could send their own laser attack at it once more, finishing off the legs too. The Dragon seemed to have need of them for the height it had gained, dropping down considerably, but it quickly prevented us from attacking the wings next by turning sharply and heading straight for us.<br>This time I got a clear look at the head, and could see that just behind it was the open area where the armour still sat on the throne. Xemnas had at some point retrieved the blade I'd thrown from his grasp before.  
>Xion quickly moved clear of the oncoming Dragon, but I had other ideas. I dived straight for Xemnas, or at least the armour just behind the head. Xemnas had anticipated this though, and I crashed into the barrier that barred entry, dislodging me from the Glider, which in turn reverted back to Gilded Light.<br>While it's by no means easy to remedy that as you're falling through the air, I somehow managed to retrieve the Glider and get back in the air again, this time with a new plan. I could already see Riku and Xion attacking the wings, needing little to no help from me. Riku was clearly keeping a firm grip on the mech this time, not wanting to be thrown off again.  
>I headed up after them, weaving through the continued attacks the Dragon was making for us as I made for the protected area where Xemnas awaited. This time when I approached, I treated it as if I was going to a different world in the Lanes Between, throwing my remaining Keyblade ahead of me to open a portal through the barrier and to the interior.<br>It worked. The Glider was quickly dismissed, restoring both my Keyblades as I returned to attack the armour yet again.  
>"Cursed fool! Do you never give up?" Xemnas demanded of me as I landed.<br>"Don't tell me you don't already know the answer to that," I answered in contempt, already making the first few attacks on him. He tried to create a blue barrier to stop me, but it just earthed itself in my armour again, doing nothing. The sword descended, aimed for me again, but it was as easily evaded as it had been before.  
>Now however Xemnas surprised me, rising from the throne to attack instead. To my knowledge this is never once done, but it seems I'd vexed him enough to cause this deviation. It might have been unexpected, but I wasn't going to let that get the better of me, so drew back to watch cautiously.<br>At first since I'd moved away from him, he swung the massive blade with both hands now, creating shockwaves of darkness much like the ones I could produce from Marluxia's Scythe, but larger and considerably more dangerous. However, they came toward me flat at the angle he'd swung the blade, making them easy to avoid, and I closed on him to attack just as if he'd been sat down.  
>Xemnas kept clear of me though, knowing what I could do with both Keyblades, magic and my own darkness all ready to turn on him. Now he launched a mass of dark projectiles at me, as if shot from Xigbar's arrowguns. Had I tried to block them all I would have been in trouble, but these were dealt with easily, a Reflect stopping the initial assault, then a darkness enhanced one to hold off the last of them as it began to fail.<br>We circled around that empty open area for a time, each time one of us made as if to attack the other, we moved accordingly to avoid it. He made the next attack again, using an attack similar to the one the Lingering Will had used on me, darting swiftly for me with a kind of slipstream of darkness around him to allow him to move faster.  
>I didn't have time to raise any kind of defence for this, forced to endure the full barrage of attacks. Fortunately unlike the Lingering Will, he did not finish up with a mass of attacks that prevented my getting close, but at that point I had no wish to. I knew I had the counter to this attack, but I needed the time to put it in place if he tried it again.<br>I made as if to cast Curaga, which he saw as an opening I was giving him. The magic I cast was not Curaga though, but Stop – turning once more to Slow, which gave me the time I needed to pull out Dark Aura.  
>I only hit him a few times with Dark Aura as he was still trying to catch me out with his own dashing attack, or perhaps it was a partially magic attack that once started, could not be cancelled. But it proved to him, I hoped, that I could defeat that too.<br>When both our attacks had finished he readied himself to swing his blade at me again, but the entire area shook violently. We both glance to one side to see one of the wings had become badly damaged. Riku and Xion had only one wing left before they came to join me now.  
>I took advantage of that momentary distraction to resume my attack on Xemnas, even managing to disarm him yet again. This time the sword merely clattered to the ground nearby, rather than being tossed away.<br>Like the Lingering Will had done, he stopped my attack by grabbing one Keyblade in an armoured hand and flinging me away, into the throne. This time I really did cast Curaga, followed by a Teleport to put myself between him and the sword.  
>Xemnas leapt up though, pushing himself off the interior of the still-intact barrier to slam into the ground behind me, once more sending me flying with a massive shockwave that also sent the sword skittering around. It had been near one corner of the area though, and he was still able to retrieve it.<br>He made another slash through the air, similar to the one that had caused the initial shockwave attack, but this time nothing appeared to happen. Then I felt its effects; like Xehanort had during my Mark of Mastery exam, he was causing my darkness to flare up. For whatever reason though, Xemnas was able to make it flare further than Xehanort had, and my armour, perhaps in response to the darkness, deactivated itself. It cleared to show a kind of dark aura around my hands. He was making it flare alright.  
>Thanks to Hades back in the past of Olympus Coliseum though, I knew how to deal with this. The excess darkness was channelled into my magic, and then directed at him with a blast of spells that far exceeded anything I could have put behind them otherwise. Only the Dark Thundaga did not hit him, but it did impact the barrier, causing it to spark, flicker, then fail. Xion and Riku had their way in, if they could bear to be close to the darkness I was throwing around now.<br>Then Xemnas realized his mistake and went the other way, instead of supplying my darkness he took from it instead. The power of my magic rapidly dropped off after that, with the only lasting effect being the enhanced Reflect I'd cast along the way.  
>He caused an explosion of pure darkness as close to me as that Reflect allowed him to, presumably with the same darkness he was trying to take from me as well as his own, but since the magic and darkness that had created it were not affected by the drop in power, it withstood the detonation without a problem and I returned to attacking him with the Keyblades again. With the first strike, his concentration was disrupted and the loss of darkness was undone, allowing it to flare up again, not as much as when he had caused it to, but still enough that some of it needed using. That was directed into raw power to dish out as much damage as I could.<br>During that assault I saw the start of the laser attack Riku and Xion were aiming for the remaining wing, then used Zero Gravity directed on myself so that this time, I wouldn't be affected by the resulting impact of the Dragon into Dark City or the inevitable shaking of this area.  
>Xemnas, having been left with no time to similarly prepare, was thrown to the ground by this, his sword thrown away for good this time. As the last of it cleared, the two of them landed nearby.<br>"You _have_ been busy, haven't you?" Xion remarked. "I can practically taste the darkness in the air."  
>Riku looked curious for a moment, looking me in the eye. "Still blue," he noted. "I guess you were right about it after all. I didn't think anyone could use that much darkness and not be affected by it."<br>"Have I been wrong yet?" I asked him.  
>"Well-"<br>"You have troubled me long enough, Liam," Xemnas interrupted, getting back up. Somehow the armour had remained on him the whole time. "Now I will be rid of you once and for all!"  
>"You'll have to go through me first," Riku asserted, getting between me and Xemnas.<br>"What are you _doing_?" I demanded.  
>"And me too," Xion added, ignoring me and joining him.<br>"Have you both lost your minds?"  
>"Hey, c'mon – we can't have you hogging all the glory now, can we?" Riku said over one shoulder. "Xion, you know what to do?"<br>"Naturally," he answered smugly. "Do you?"  
>"Like you need to ask."<br>The two of them called out their Keyblades, then Xion fell back a ways as Riku went ahead. Xion projected a barrier around us from his Keyblade, then turned to me and said, "We came up with this when we saw you two fighting. Riku thought he might be in bad shape by the time we reached you, but since you'd been hogging him, he wouldn't know what to expect from us."  
>I listened to this, watching Riku at the same time. Xemnas attempted to attack him with the darkness itself, but Riku either evaded it or brushed it aside. Then he disappeared. Xemnas stopped stock still, then fell to the ground, revealing Riku just behind with only the faintest hints of darkness playing around the ends of his blade.<br>As Xemnas hit the ground, there was another eruption of light, just as there had been when I'd finished off his armoured form before. One last battle awaited us.


	97. An End to Nothingness

Wherever we ended up, it was clearly a place created on Xemnas's terms rather than our own. It was slightly resemblant of the Dark Depths within Hollow Bastion's Keyhole, but instead of the multicoloured affair that had, this looked like it was simply streaked with black and white, coming down to a single black spot on the floor, and reaching high up above us to a similar white spot that seemed tiny in the distance.  
>Riku and Xion stood on either side of me, and the three of us opposite Xemnas in the same black coat as always, but now with white patterns over too. In a way it was similar to my own clothes, remaining in the blacks and whites of Final form.<br>"Heroes from the realm of light," Xemnas started, eyes never leaving me for a moment. "I will not allow it to end this way – not yet." I prepared to silently cast one of the more complex spells as he said this. "If light and darkness are eternal, then surely we of nothing must also be eternal?"  
>"Distract him," I breathed, hoping one of the others would hear.<br>"You're right," Riku answered Xemnas. "Light and darkness are eternal. Nothing probably goes on forever too. But guess what?"  
>"That doesn't mean you're eternal," Xion finished.<br>"No more eternal than that radiance of yours," he chuckled, raising his arms. In the brief moment they blocked his view I released the spell I'd been holding back. Naturally it was Teleport, and I appeared not directly behind him but just far enough away so that if he anticipated this and struck out behind, he'd miss.  
>I made gestures to Riku and Xion on the other side of him to indicate they should attack him, as he released the blue lightning from his hands once again. It arced back to behind him, where I would have been had I not thought of this, finding nothing. As the two closed on him it was brought forward to bar their path though, and now I closed in from behind to land the first blow of this final battle.<br>The lightning vanished when I hit him, allowing them to continue in and even get in a few blows of their own before Xemnas turned incorporeal, making our attacks go right through him as he quickly floated back and clear before becoming solid again.  
>Unexpectedly, I heard Roxas say, <em>Reflect!<em> and to my surprise, a Reflect spell came into being around us, just as Xemnas threw a blast of air at us that was presumably meant to send us flying up into the air.  
>"Nice timing, Lee," Xion told me.<br>"Thank Roxas," I replied. "I didn't know you could cast spells through me," I added to him as the wind howled around us.  
><em>I wasn't sure if it would work,<em> he replied. _There wasn't enough time to get you to do it yourself, so I gave it a go.  
><em>Xemnas gave a brief, irritated growl, then seemed to split into two. One of them real, one not. The two circled around us, shooting threads of dark energy that easily pierced the standard Reflect Roxas had given us, but by that time we'd already evacuated its limited coverage to avoid them, splitting up so that at least one of us would not be attacked, and hopefully would be able to tell which of them was the real Xemnas.  
>Xion was the one ignored for the moment, watching both Xemnas and clone carefully to identify which was which. Riku and I were beset by them meanwhile, neither of them using Ethereal Blades but resorting to unarmed combat and blasts of darkness. Until we knew which was which, neither of us dared attack in case we found it was the wrong one, simply evading the attempts to strike us and smashing the blasts of darkness clear.<br>"Riku!" Xion called at last. "Hit him!"  
>Riku didn't need telling twice, and as I'd not used much magic I had enough to Teleport over to join him. The clone of Xemnas vanished as we descended on the genuine article, who unsurprisingly did not seem too pleased about this.<br>Again he escaped us by turning incorporeal, this time going up into the air to be clear of us before he solidified, only to rain down a barrage of blue energy balls that exploded on contact with anything. Some of them detonated in the air against others, causing brief chain reactions that created a small barrier of energy we couldn't even get magic through, others made it to us or the floor. Even trying to smash them away did no good, as they exploded on contact with a Keyblade too, forcing us to take shelter under the small barriers the chain reactions created.  
>Before long Xemnas realized this, and further realized that we could not pass through the barrier. He caused the chain reaction to spread further, barring us off from him.<br>"Now what?" Riku demanded.  
>"Now we change the rules," I replied, tapping my armour to haul it out once more, then exchanging Gilded Light for my Glider. "Get on and hold on tight," I told them. Riku didn't look happy about it, but took the same place he had done last time, holding on to me while Xion did the same for him.<br>"Are you sure-" Riku began, but shut up as I headed upwards, hoping what I'd planned would work.  
>The blue barriers were made of the same energy that had earthed itself ineffectively in my armour many times before, and as it acted as a kind of lightning rod for it, both Xion and Riku were left untouched. As Xemnas had stabilized his barrier so he no longer needed to supply it with energy, we were able to land on top of it without further issue.<br>Xemnas was still above us though, and seeing our navigation of this obstacle he resumed his attacks in full force, sending white strings of thorns and red lasers at us. I'd only just dismissed my Glider when I realised I'd be better of with it, calling it back so I could get up further and at him again.  
>Again he anticipated my actions though, sending further strings of thorns to impede and attack me. Finally I lost patience and attacked them back, trying to carve my way through them by any means necessary. I could make progress, but being limited to just one Keyblade slowed things down, and the thorns simply continued to grow thicker ahead of me.<br>Apparently Riku had noticed this, and called up to me to get my attention, following up by hurling his own Keyblade at me, while he kept close to Xion. I wasn't certain if I'd be able to take it, since there was no telling whether having my Glider out counted for the Keyblades I could wield, but I snared Way to the Dawn out of the air and it did not vanish back to Riku's hand.  
>Now with two Keyblades again I was able to push back through the thorns with ease, emerging above them to Xemnas's chagrin. He sent further thorns after me, but they were the ones in pursuit of me now, I was ahead and gaining on him. The thorns couldn't stop me from reaching him now.<br>Instead of attacking him with a Keyblade though, I pulled the Glider back at the last moment, slamming the bottom of it into him with the full force of all the speed and momentum I'd built up heading for him, sending him crashing through his own web of thorns, into the blue barrier – which dispelled itself on contact, dropping everyone down to the original floor, where I quickly rejoined them.  
>Xemnas didn't stay down for long though, yet again becoming invulnerable to harm with his incorporeal trick, and once clear he split into two images again.<br>This time I was the one left out, and Riku and Xion had to deal with his repeated attacks. I decided to cheat a bit though, similar to how I'd ended the fight with Luxord – I summoned the Book of Retribution and created an illusion that would only show up on the clone, writing the word 'fake' over the front of its coat.  
>Riku gave a short laugh when his Xemnas suddenly sported the illusionary sign, prompting both Xemnas's to look at it. The delay was all Riku needed to join Xion and me back at the real Xemnas.<br>He got clear with the same trick again, but this time with two clones, meaning we were all busy. None of us would be able to come up with anything like this, not while distracted by whichever Xemnas was attacking us.  
>I took the risk though, attacking my one. It turned out to be a clone, causing the remaining clone to vanish and the real Xemnas to strike at me from behind, sending me into one of the oddly squashy walls of this realm. I tried to turn to get back at him but found as soon as I'd turned, there were thorns heading for me that despite my best efforts, pinned me against the wall.<br>"Can you spare... a heart?" Xemnas smirked, surrounded himself by thorns while the clone that I'd attacked was busy holding off Xion and Riku with the Ethereal Blades.  
>"Not good," I said, though it didn't really matter. "Roxas, can't you do something?"<br>_Can't you get a Teleport out?_ he suggested. I tried it, but nothing happened. Faced with Xemnas closing in, confidence started to fade. I could see through the gaps in the thorns that Xion was trying to get clear of Riku and the clone to come at the thorns, but the clone was teleporting itself into their path every time.  
>Xemnas raised one hand, causing my darkness to momentarily flare enough for the armour to deactivate itself yet again. I tried to make use of that darkness, and even what normal darkness I had to pull myself clear, but Xemnas had learned from the previous battle and carefully drained my darkness to prevent my use of it.<br>Now with the armour out of the way, he was free to reach for me, blue energy sparking around one hand. Being unable to avoid it, it shocked me the moment it touched me and I felt a tugging on me, not a physical one. He really was after my heart.  
><em>Oh, no you don't<em>, Roxas muttered, then the tugging was gone. Xemnas didn't seem to have noticed, if anything his smirk had grown more pronounced as he pulled his hand away again. I could feel something missing, but I couldn't tell what. Surely he hadn't just taken my heart?  
>He hadn't. As he got clear, a human shape appeared between me and him. While it too wore the Organization's coat, not only was it lacking the whiteness of Xemnas's one, the hood was back to reveal the blond spiky hair that I knew belonged to two people only: Ven and Roxas.<br>"Remember me?" Roxas asked Xemnas venomously, then punched him in the face. He pulled out my Fatal Crest Keyblade from the air, quickly carving a space in the thorny barrier around him while also holding Xemnas off.  
>"A little help here, Roxas!" I called to him, still stuck in my own thorns.<br>Roxas sent Xemnas reeling back with another punch, then put Reflect in his path and quickly carved me out of the thorns.  
>"Honestly, can't ya do anything without my help?" he grinned, then he took my hand and rejoined me again.<br>During Roxas's assault of Xemnas the clone outside the barrier had vanished, allowing Riku and Xion to carve their way in even as I, now freed and with Roxas back with me, recalled both my own Keyblades to attack Xemnas myself. They broke into the thorny area in time for us all to leave a final blow each on Xemnas, putting an end to him once and for all.  
>As he faded away though, he did something strange – he cast Cure on Xion, who strangely enough stumbled back as if hurt, looking disoriented.<br>The last of the thorns disappeared with Xemnas, but no Nobodies appeared. Instead we were left with Xion, who even as Xen had when Roxas and Sora had overwritten his data with Xion's, was left kneeling on the floor, swaying slightly with a glazed expression.


	98. Mysteries Solved

Xemnas had been defeated, destroyed at long last along with his stronghold, the Organization's members either finished or turned against their former comrades, but it had not been obtained without a cost. With his last moments before fading away, Xemnas had done the one thing Roxas had continually warned me away from doing: using healing magic on Xion.  
>Now Xion was in the same state Xen had been before he and Sora had replaced Xen with Xion, and I understood why Roxas had been warning me away – but still not what was going on.<br>"Can we do anything for him?" Riku asked me, though the question was probably directed at Roxas too.  
>"We have to be patient," Roxas answered for me. "Xion and Xen were both Replicas, but they were different kinds of Replicas."<br>"What do you mean?"  
>"Xion was a Replica of me," Roxas explained. "and also one of the very first to be created, meaning there were a lot of issues Vexen had yet to work out of however he created them. He was altered so that he'd take from me, sap my strength until he could take my place as the other half of Liam, and give them a Keyblade Master fully under the Organization's control – one that didn't want to turn on them. Xen on the other hand was one of the last ones to be created, and he only had a handful of changes. He was based on Liam instead of me, but without Lee's ethics, and with the single command to overpower him at any cost."<br>"I think I understand what you're saying," Riku said. "Because one was based on you, and the other on Liam, there's some kind of incompatibility, right?"  
>"That, and Xen was created using more advanced means than Xion was," Roxas confirmed. In all the time I knew Xion, he never once used any kind of healing magic – he told me just before I had to destroy him, it was because trying to heal him would actually undo some of Vexen's changes, which would in turn damage some of the memories."<br>"Memories that needed to remain intact to wake me up," I added.  
>"Exactly. So when Xemnas healed Xion, it must have triggered something like that, and because he's using Xen's body instead of the original Replica made for him, it's made even worse."<br>"Right... but can we do anything?" Riku repeated.  
>"I don't know," Roxas admitted. "Vexen would be the one to ask, not me."<br>"I've got an idea though," I said. "Give me Zexion's book, Roxas."  
>"That reminds me," Riku said as it appeared in my hand. "Just when did you two pick up their weapons?"<br>"Whenever we defeated one of them," I replied absently, leafing through the volume. I was looking for an illusion I'd used way back in Beast's Castle, that had hurt my opponents at the time, but healed my allies, including a complex part to work around the harm it should have done to Nobodies.  
>"Of course," Roxas agreed, seeing the spell as I was reading it. "If it could be reworked, we might be able to undo what Xemnas did."<br>"Don't bet on that," Xion – or perhaps Xen – told us. "He's long gone now. _I'm_ the one you have to deal with now." Definitely Xen then.  
>"Roxas, keep researching it," I said, the book vanishing again. "I'll handle him until you come up with something."<br>"Not alone you won't," Riku told me.  
>"Bring all the help you want," Xen shrugged. "Thanks to your meddling, I've learned everything I need to."<br>"What do you mean, Xen?" I asked.  
>"Your Nobody said it himself – Xion was designed to steal from him. He still can, if he were in his own Replica body. But this is mine, and only I can do it in my own."<br>"You're stealing from me instead."  
>"Oh, not stealing," he smiled evilly. "Copying. Anything you can do... I can too. All that magic you had that I never did... control over the darkness... everything that you had that I didn't – now it's all available to me. You'll not force me out of my own body again this time."<br>_I hate to admit it, but he might be right. I'm going to have to see what he's capable of to rework this spell now, just altering it for a Replica like him isn't going to work any more.  
><em>Xen attacked us, and as he was now armed with Ultima Weapon, he was already more formidable than he had been with just a Kingdom Key. He was still limited to just one Keyblade though, which meant I was able to hold him off – just. It was clear that he had no qualms about using the darkness. Roxas had been right, he was me – but without the limits I set on myself, without ethics. He'd do whatever it took, even if it meant giving himself over to the darkness, and that might prevent us from ever getting Xion back safely.  
>Reluctantly, I put out one of my anti-magic fields, once more with a touch of darkness to it that would prevent all magic or darkness within its reach. This of course cut into Riku's effectiveness, as he'd begun to use the darkness a bit more, and we would also have to wait it out before Roxas's counter-heal could be put in place, but it was necessary.<br>But Xen was no pushover without it. Now he'd copied from me, he was blessed, if that's the right term, with the same creativity I had and more. He quickly realized that Riku was at a disadvantage after my field had been put in place, and focused on getting him out of the fight, keeping him between us.  
>So I simply joined Riku instead, healing him with the odd potion or similar from my own mostly untouched stocks of items and helping fend off Xen's attacks.<br>Xen refocused on me then, not trying to cut through my defences but seemingly to outflank me, to attack from the side. Whatever he was up to, I held off his attacks while Riku attempted the same to Xen, trying to get to him from the side or behind but Xen was wary of this, circling around me so that he was always facing me, never allowing Riku to get close enough to attack.  
>He steadily worked more around to my left, my off-side, and then he achieved what he'd been after with a low feint. I didn't have time to raise my Keyblade up in response to the true strike upwards, which caught on the shoulder piece of my armour, picking it easily off me.<br>"Hey! Give that back!" I demanded, but Xen just smirked, then turned and ran to keep clear of us. While we pursued, he set that armour on his own shoulder. Once he appeared certain it was in place, he hit it to activate it. Would it work for him? Could he have copied whatever had given me the ability to activate it?  
>The answered turned out to be yes. Now we were faced with Xen wearing my armour. This made it harder to hurt him through it, but his own attacks also suffered as he, unlike me, was not used to it. Experience is not something he could copy so easily, it seemed.<br>"Can you hold him off?" I asked Riku.  
>"For a while," he grunted, pushing Xen back. "Don't be too long," he added as I fell back, quickly dismissing both Keyblades so I could search myself. In one of the various pockets I found a pen, then that was followed by the book. Surely Sora would help get us out of it?<br>I quickly flicked through the pages to where the writing stopped, then stared in chagrin at the last line, a message from Sora.  
>'Had a long week of hard work, taking the rest of today and a bit longer off. Good luck; will see you after.'<br>Evidently after he'd helped Roxas put Xion in Xen's place he'd left us to it. Apparently at last he trusted me to be able to handle myself – typical that when I really did need him, he wasn't there! Now what was I going to do?  
>I may not think well when surprised, and this was definitely a surprise, but a new plan began to form in my mind. I marked that page, then flicked back to the inside cover of this book. Just as there had been on the real thing that Sora had, there was one corner which held the original note, 'Written is real'. Maybe in creating this copy of the book, I could write in it and affect things? It was worth a try.<br>I got back to the page with Sora's message, then thought for a few moments to make sure I got this right, and started to write.  
>'Riku becomes able to wield two Keyblades, and knows that he gains this ability because of me,' I wrote in it. Then I got out Gilded Light.<br>"Riku, catch!" I called, throwing it at him. He easily snagged it out of the air in his free hand, but it disappeared, returning to me. "Hold on – let me try that again in a moment."  
>I checked the book and found what I'd written had vanished. Was there something wrong with it?<br>_Of course! _Roxas exclaimed. _The original book Sora has is written from your point of view – this one isn't, so you've got to write it as if you're someone else. Try it, Liam – quickly.  
><em>That made sense, so I gave it another go.  
>'Riku becomes able to wield two Keyblades, and knows that he gains this ability because of Liam,' I wrote this time, then called to Riku again, throwing Gilded Light once more.<br>This time when he caught it, it remained in his hand. The words remained in the book too – it had worked! Now I had a tool that Xen couldn't have taken from me, and I could put it to use helping us. Riku was having no trouble holding Xen off now he held two Keyblades, so I no longer had to worry about getting directly involved myself.  
>I started to see faint shadows behind both Riku's and Xen's Keyblades though – the anti-magic barrier was starting to fail, and the darkness was returning with it. That would be the next problem to tackle, so I uncapped the pen again and wrote:<br>'The anti-magic barrier is restored, blocking out magic and darkness but only for Xen.'  
>Nothing appeared to be different, but the words remained so evidently they'd had an effect. Sure enough, the shadows were now clearly visible behind Riku's strikes, while Xen's had none at all. But Riku had never been one for magic I recalled, and his darkness was similarly limited to only a few things he'd picked up. Another use of the book seemed necessary.<br>'Riku know he is now able to cast all the spells Liam knows, even those that use his darkness.'  
>I didn't need to look up to know that had also worked, as Riku sent a Thundara at Xen, which would only hurt more while he remained in my armour. I realized that too needed remedying, so added another line in the book that caused it to deactivate itself, stop responding to Xen, and then finally be returned to me.<br>_Get it to give me a hand,_ Roxas told me then. _This counter-heal is proving very complex.  
><em>"Whatever you need," I told him, then added a line that read:  
>'Roxas figures out how to restore Xion without giving Xen any way to return and allowing Xion to use and be affected by healing magic like everyone else.'<br>If that didn't solve our problem, nothing would.  
><em>Aha! Got it! Now, let me out, Liam. No offence, but this one's a bit beyond you.<br>_"None taken," I replied, then possibly for the last time, pulled Roxas form, and turned control over to him.  
>"Riku! Get back!" Roxas called, then added, "And chuck us Liam's Keyblade back too!"<br>With Gilded Light in one hand and the Book of Retribution in the other, Roxas ignored Xen rushing toward him and pointed my Keyblade at him.  
>"What're you gonna do?" Xen shouted. "Shoot me with it?"<br>"I am the Nobody of a Keyblade Master," Roxas told Xen. "Anything he can do, so can I - including unlocking the heart of another!"  
>The beam of light erupted from the Keyblade, just as it would have done for a Keyhole being locked. It pushed Xen back when it hit, and after a few moments there was a sounds like something clicking. Xen had been trying to get clear of the beam, but Roxas had kept it on him. Now he seemed unwilling or unable to resist.<br>Roxas relinquished his grip on Glided Light, presumably holding it in place through the use of my Final form abilities, then opened the Book of Retribution to a page he'd left marked with one finger resting inside. His right hand was dragged over the page, picking up a white glow to them as he muttered whatever words were the necessary accompaniment, sending a wave of white light at Xen.  
>The Keyblade's own light stopped then, and it dismissed itself as Xen once more sank to the floor, this time keening in pain, clutching at his head with one hand, and his chest with the other.<br>"What did you _do _to him?" Riku breathed, apparently awestruck.  
>"I unlocked his heart, forced him out and restored Xion in such a way that Xen can never return," Roxas replied. "I even managed to solve Xion's issue with healing spells, thanks to Liam."<br>Just as I'd written it in the book.  
>The light around Xen grew so bright we had to shield our eyes from it. When it faded, he was unconscious on the ground, hopefully now as Xion once more. But just beyond him was someone else, someone I recognised.<br>_Roxas, let me back,_ I told him, and he cancelled the form out to restore me.  
>The other person looked identical to the last time I'd seen him – which had been in the past, back in Enchanted Dominion. Sora had identified him for us, and now here he was.<br>"What're you doing here, Neku?" I demanded, advancing on him. "What do you want?"  
>"Never mind," Neku shook his head. "I thought you'd be alone. I didn't count on you to bring him with you," he pointed to Xion. "I'll be back later."<br>"Oh, no you don't! If you can't tell me in front of Riku, then it clearly isn't worth bothering me with at all. Out with it."  
>"Suit yourself," Neku shrugged. "You realize what you've done here... it won't affect the games?"<br>"Games?" Riku asked, looking perplexed.  
>"I'll explain later," I told him absently. "Of course I know that. That's what you came here to tell me?"<br>"Not just that. Sora's left my book alone for a bit. I know you know about that. That's why I helped you when you used the copy of it. That copy will disappear when you undo what you wrote in the original."  
>"Your book? What do you mean, your book? I paid for it."<br>"Not what I meant. I'm..." Neku looked at himself. "This isn't me. This is just the appearance I took. I suppose you could call me the spirit behind the book – what makes it work. The real Neku is due to come in a future game; I just assumed this appearance because I thought you wouldn't recognise it."  
>"And the attack in Enchanted Dominion?"<br>"I wanted to test you for myself. Of course, in picking this form I was limited to this Neku's abilities, and anything that he couldn't do, I couldn't either. There was never any malice in what I did." Neku glanced up as if seeing something we couldn't, then nodded. "If what I've learned about Sora is right, you've got about two days here before he gets back to you. And Riku... when you get back to the Destiny Islands, go to Sora's family and make sure they know he's alright. Might not be a good idea for Liam to go there himself – not unless you can teach him to act and sound more like Sora."  
>"Sora's easy," Riku chuckled. "Just act dense."<br>"Neku, wait a moment," I said. "The book – your book. What will happen to it when Sora and I go back again?"  
>"You'll be left holding it," he shrugged again. "You'll still be able to use it the same way. It's not the only one like it – my brethren are scattered across your world, but we have no way of keeping in touch. Some of them do things slightly differently to me, but ultimately we're all the same – we offer some limited means of altering reality. Of course... it's up to us whether we choose to let you have whatever you write. I feel I know you well enough to trust you with my book though. Time for you to go though," he said, then clapped his hands sharply.<br>We were momentarily blinded, then deposited in the place known as the Dark Meridian, the beach in the Realm of Darkness where Sora and Riku end up too.


	99. The Door Home

The shoreline of the Dark Meridian is dotted with curious white structures that are made from some material I've never come across, creating large arches and strange sculptures over the beach, which stretches for quite some distance away from the actual shore itself.  
>As we had not had to fight a mass of Nobodies, Riku was not weakened as he is when he and Sora come here, but instead we had a still-unconscious Xion with us. We supported him on either side, bringing him up to the shoreline with us.<br>"Reminds me of home," Riku murmured, then he nodded to a nearby flat rock. "We'll let him rest there."  
>"Right," I agreed, helping bring him over. "It's not like we'll be going far."<br>Xion still took Xen's appearance, which in turn was based on Sora's normal appearance after he pays a visit to Yen Sid's tower. It was an unusual contrast between him in what I knew as the normal form for either of us, and me bearing the appearance of Final form instead.  
>As the rock was hardly comfortable though, I removed both his and my own jackets, rolling them up as a kind of pillow for him. I had no idea how long we'd have to wait here for the bottled message to reach us, so I could at least be sure he was comfortable until then.<br>Once that was seen to I joined Riku, who'd taken to sitting near the waves, watching them roll in.  
>"Hey, Liam," he said after a long silence. "What was that thing about games you and Neku mentioned? The thing you said you'd explain later?"<br>"I guess we've got time. You might not like the answer though."  
>"It won't be the first thing you've told me I didn't like," he chuckled. "I imagine my face when you made that remark about the Paopu, back on Destiny Islands..."<br>"Yeah, that was priceless," I laughed. "Made it worth teasing you about."  
>"So, games?"<br>"Put simply, it's like this... all what we've been through... from the day I first took over from Sora, right up until now – and a bit more after this – they're actually the stories of several games that exist back in my world. Over there..."  
>"We're all just video game characters?"<br>"Yeah. Except, as Neku said... because of me, things turned out a little differently, but they won't affect the games. The only way people will know is if they read the story Roxas, Sora and I have been working on – one that tells my story here."  
>"I've never seen you write anything, except when we were busy with Xen."<br>"Let's just say we made some arrangements so no one would. After all... it's not the easiest thing to tell someone."  
>"Guess not," Riku nodded, apparently unfazed by learning he was just a character in a game. "What about you, Liam?" he asked after a time. "When did you and Sora exchange places?"<br>"When do you think it was?" I asked him. "Think back – when did the person you thought was Sora start acting strangely?"  
>"Since always," he laughed. "Sora always has been strange."<br>"Stranger, then."  
>Riku leaned back, letting him arms slip down so he laid on the sand as he thought.<br>"That day when we were working on the raft," he said eventually. "Kairi found you snoozing on the beach, and we had that race. I reckon it must have been while Sora had been sleeping."  
>"Close enough."<br>"Why didn't you tell anyone it wasn't you?"  
>"I didn't think anyone would believe me. Besides – a chance to lead Sora's life... even with all the changes to it I've made, you've got a fair idea of what the real story should be like. I couldn't pass that up, but that meant I had to at least pretend my name was Sora."<br>"So how did Maleficent and the Organization know it wasn't your name?"  
>"Weren't you paying attention when Sora's body decided to do this?" I asked, pointing at myself. I of course, still appeared to be me. "Back when Xigbar was still known as Braig, he overheard me tell a young boy named Ventus my true name."<br>"Right, but what about Maleficent? And that favour she owed you?"  
>"Oh, that's simple... while I was busy stuck in the past, Xigbar left a Replica of himself along with a bunch of Nobodies to trouble me. They went to Enchanted Dominion – Maleficent's home world – and started attacking her around about the same time she first started to command the Heartless. Of course, she only had weak Heartless at the time, since Emblem Heartless didn't exist back then, and the Nobodies would have overpowered her."<br>"Let me guess. If she had lost out, she'd never have embarked on the conquest of all worlds, and our stories would never have happened, so you reluctantly came to her aid and in the process told her your real name."  
>"Right. I was going to tell her I was Sora, but Roxas insisted otherwise, and I trust him."<br>"What about me? Do you... trust me?"  
>"You need to ask?" I replied. "You, Kairi, even Sora... you're as much my friends as you are each other's friends. You can't expect me not to trust you."<br>"True enough."  
>We talked a bit more, mostly filling in each other on what had happened, and seeing the same kind of events from the other's point of view. After a while we grew bored of talking and Riku challenged me to a mock fight, which reminded me a great deal of when I'd taken on Terra just after getting sent back in time. Since Terra is the one who performed the Inheritance Ceremony for Riku though, that's hardly surprising.<br>We kept it to just one Keyblade though, and no magic or darkness. I went easy on him and let him win, for which he told me off, then I completely thrashed him when I went against him again without holding back.  
>After that, we just settled on the beach to wait for the message to arrive. I must have drifted off, because the next thing I remember was Xion shaking me awake.<br>"Lee, get up."  
>"Uh?" As usual, I was a slow riser.<br>"There's a message for you."  
>"Oh." A pause, then, "Who from?"<br>"Kairi."  
>"Here," Riku's voice said, and a hand extended a small rolled up bit of paper into my vision.<br>I took it, then pushed myself up to read. Xion helpfully put my jacket back around me as I read the note, which was indeed from Kairi.  
>'Thinking of you, wherever you are,' it began. Kairi knew I wasn't Sora, but I assume she was concerned about me too. 'We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish. And who knows: starting a new journey may not be so hard or maybe it has already begun. There are many worlds, but they share the same sky – one sky, one destiny.'<br>Then, underneath:  
>'PS – Be ready to explain to Mickey – Kairi.'<br>"Oh dear," I said aloud.  
>"I thought you'd have something better to say than that," Riku remarked. "Given that just appeared." A door had appeared in the shallows ahead, framed in light.<br>"Oh, I'm not saying that's bad – but did you see her note on the end?"  
>"Sure. But he'll understand. You don't know him as well as I do, Liam. He and I kept in touch from the moment I awakened in Castle Oblivion to when you met him in Hollow Bastion, right before Maleficent and the Organization clashed. He'll understand, as long as we tell him the truth."<br>"Then we'll go together," I said, putting my jacket back on properly, rather than just leaving it draped around me shoulders, and we waded out toward the door.  
>The door was not in the same place back at Destiny Islands though, dropping us into the empty air over a deeper patch of water, deep enough that we didn't meet the bottom. Of course, while Atlantica had helped me get over my problem of panicking underwater, it hadn't settled it entirely, and so Xion helped me back to the surface, trying not to laugh at me for it.<br>"Remind me never to let you go swimming alone," he told me though.  
>"Hey, Liam," Riku called, not far away. "Race you two to the beach."<br>"You're on!" I answered. Riku swims a bit better than I do though, as does Xion, so I was the last to get up at the shallows, only to be pushed back down and into the water by Donald and Goofy jumping me.  
>"You're alright!" Goofy exclaimed happily.<br>"Well of course!" I replied. "You think I'd ever not be?"  
>"We were worried about you when you didn't come back," Donald explained, helping me back out to a waiting Kairi. Not far away, Riku was having his own reunion with the King.<br>"I told them for you," she said by way of greeting. "Mickey and I felt it only fair they get the explanations you should have given them while we were waiting for you."  
>"Yeah, she explained why ya thought you had to do it," Goofy agreed. "And Donald and I thought on it, and we reckon you were only doing what ya thought was best."<br>"So we forgive you," Donald continued. "You're still our friends, no matter what happens, or where we are!"  
>"Room for another friend among you?" I asked, nodding to Xion. "And would anyone mind showing me to Demyx and Axel?" I added.<br>"I'll take you," Kairi said, as Donald and Goofy joined Xion. "I know you can't stay," she told me along the way. "But will you at least visit sometimes?"  
>"Of course I will," I replied. "I might have to talk with Neku about it, but I think I'll get to keep a few things I've got here, so I'll be able to stop by whenever I want. But Kairi..."<br>"I know. Sora remembers his own life, so it'll be as if nothing ever changed for him. He'll still have his Keyblades and experiences, and we'll be fine – even if this reality thinks you're the one responsible for what he should have done. They're just up there," she added, pointing to the same tree house where I'd found Sora's copy of the book.  
>"Thanks, Kairi, for everything. You take care of yourself, won't you?"<br>"You think I'd do anything else?" she teased, then left me to check up on my two Nobody friends. They were sat just inside, talking as they played cards.  
>"What do you think he's doing?" Demyx asked Axel.<br>"How should I know? He'll be alright though. Liam can take care of himself."  
>"Did I hear my name mentioned?" I asked mildly, poking my head into view.<br>"You're back!" It seemed to come from both of them at once.  
>"You'll never guess what Mickey helped us find out," Axel added once he'd disentangled himself from me.<br>"Probably right, too," I agreed. "Go on, what?"  
>"You know that explosion that made Riku go back to himself, and did that to you?" Demyx asked. I nodded, and he continued, "Well, it also gave us our hearts back! We're not Nobodies any more!"<br>"Great news. Means the only Nobody left is Roxas, and I don't think we need to do anything about him, right?"  
>"Liam, I've got a little request for you," Axel said. "When I was growing up..."<br>"Say no more. You want to go home, right?"  
>"Can you arrange for it?"<br>"I can have you there in the blink of an eye, right now, if you want."  
>"Uh... well, lemme say goodbye to all the new friends I've made because of you first." He paused on the way out.<br>"Don't worry, Axel," I said. "Roxas and I will come to visit you too."  
>"Thanks, Lee," he mumbled, then left.<br>"Can I get a free ticket to go with him?" Demyx asked me.  
>"Sure. I'll handle it all at the same time."<br>Once we'd gotten past the initial reunions and the goodbyes Axel and Demyx had decided to say, I arranged for Neku to take them to Radiant Garden safely, then at Mickey's request I returned him home too.  
>Kairi and Riku advised me to stay on the island that night, as for one thing I still looked like myself, and for another they wanted to find out what Sora's family – which as far as I know is just his mother – were thinking, since I hadn't been seen here since before the night of the storm.<br>That left me alone on the island that night, or at least as alone as anyone can be while sharing their head with their own Nobody. Neither he or I had much to say though.  
>I had a few curiosities nagging at me still though, so pulled out Neku's copy of the book, thought for a moment, then started to write again.<br>'Neku, can I talk to you through this too?'  
>'Of course,' the response came back almost immediately. 'Is there something on your mind?'<br>'These worlds... everything I've done here... what will happen to them when Sora and I go back? Will they just... disappear, except in my memories?'  
>'Not at all. You can thank Sora for that. When he altered things so he could travel from your world into these ones by Gummi Ship, he brought your world into the Lanes Between – though you'll be the only one who'll see that at home, and the only one who can enter and leave them. Everyone else will still see and go to what you call outer space.'<br>'So that means... all this has become real? I really can come back to these worlds whenever I want?'  
>'Naturally. Your Glider, armour and the Keyblade Eraqus gave you will go back with you, though the as the rest originally belonged to Sora, those will become his. But with those things, you'll be able to go back into the Lanes Between whenever you want.'<br>'Would you do something for me then? All my friends in each of the worlds... could you make it so they know me as me, instead of as me pretending to be Sora?'  
>'That was done for you when you told Ventus your real name,' Neku told me, then he added, 'Don't forget you still owe Seifer a round in the next Struggle tournaments. He was affected too, and when the tournaments roll around next he'll expect you to be there.'<br>I smiled to myself – I wouldn't be losing anything in going back. Not my Nobody, not my Keyblade, not even the promise to Seifer that I'd take him on to prove I'd earned the trophy he'd pushed on me.  
>'One last thing then. When I wake up in the morning, I want Sora's body to look like it should again, rather than like mine. I can hardly go showing my face around where people will be expecting his, can I?'<br>'And done,' Neku replied, though I felt no difference. That would happen in the night, of course.


	100. Pieces in their Places

True to his word, when I finally got up again in the morning I was back looking like Sora once more. I took a few moments to figure out what time it was and figured that since the sky was just starting to stain light blue on the horizon, it really was morning. Not that I don't usually get up while it still is morning, just outside of work I'm not normally up to see that kind of sky.  
>Since everyone else was undoubtedly on the mainland for now, I didn't worry too much about doing anything just yet. Riku and Kairi would make their way back over in their own time, and bring Donald, Goofy and Xion back with them.<br>I already had a feeling Donald and Goofy would also ask to go back to one of the two Disney worlds, in Donald's case to get back and see Daisy. Now that Xion was completely freed of Xen and the ill effects healing magic had previously had, he had a life of his own to start now. I hoped he'd want to stay here for now, but of course I wasn't going to stop him if he decided otherwise. Maybe I could persuade him to stick around, at least until just after Sora got back – maybe he'd like having an identical twin.  
>There was one more person though, one I'd almost completely forgotten about. While I waited for the others to return, I made my way down to the low rock with the Paopu trees growing on to watch the coming dawn from the same tree Sora is seen perched on when Riku gives that speech about worlds, way back before they ever left the islands.<br>While I was there, Jiminy hopped up on one shoulder.  
>"You've sure been keeping me busy, you know," he told me quietly. "I didn't bother you at all because I've had to update the journal so much recently."<br>"I guess that's why I didn't notice you lately. I guess you heard what was said back at the Dark Meridian then – when it was just me and Riku."  
>"Of course. And I saw your conversation with Neku too – the one in the book. I didn't mean to peek, but curiosity got the better of me," he admitted. "I won't tell though, not if you still don't want me to."<br>"I don't think it matters now. The others all know about Neku's book. But I'm curious – what do you think of what I did?"  
>"I agree with Donald and Goofy. You were only doing what you felt you had to. I had to go back and change a fair bit of the journal after we found out who you really were, updating a lot of entries – and there's still the mystery of that first journal, the one you kept a copy of."<br>"You mean the one that's blank except for the note about Naminé?"  
>"That's the one. But there's another message too, now. It reads, 'We must return to free them from their torment'. I don't suppose you know anything about that, do you?"<br>"Not as much as I probably should," I admitted. "When I send Donald and Goofy on, I'll arrange for you to go with them. You can show Mickey the copy of the original journal, and that one with the message. Maybe he'll come up with something."  
>Of course, I knew he would come up with something – the events of Coded or Re:Coded, depending on where you live. Seeing how that will turn out could be a very interesting thing.<br>Xion was the first to join me, not long after sunrise. Thanks to Xen having copied my magic, any of my magic that Xion hadn't had before, he did now, so he'd come over using the same Teleport spell that I knew – and, I realized, Riku too.  
>"I thought you'd like to know," he said, leaning on the same tree trunk I was on. "Riku and I saved you the trouble of having to worry about Sora's family. Since I look like Sora now, and I know what Sora's like..."<br>"I guess I did this for nothing then, huh?" I said, indicating myself.  
>"I don't think so. After all, Sora would probably have insisted on it before he took it back himself."<br>"True. I wonder what he'll think when he catches up on what we've been up to."  
>"Ask Neku?" Xion suggested.<br>"I'd rather not bother him unless it's necessary. I imagine he had to do a lot of work to accommodate all the changes Sora and I have put into his book. He deserves a rest."  
>"I wonder if he even needs time off," Xion mused, looking back out toward the mainland. Riku and Kairi were rowing their way over in one boat, seemingly racing against Donald and Goofy in the other.<br>"Bet you Riku and Kairi get here first," I said, nudging Xion.  
>"Oh yeah? Bet me what?"<br>"Uh..." I didn't actually have anything. At least, not anything I'd still have after getting back to my own body.  
>"I know," Xion said with a mischievous grin. "Have Roxas or Neku make your clothes match mine again, so they're not the Final form ones. Then if you win, when they get here we'll just tell them that Final form stuff wore off."<br>"And if you win?" I asked, suspecting I already knew.  
>"Then we'll still tell them that, but since we'll look identical by then, I'll tell them I'm you, and you tell them you're me. Just imagine how much it'll confuse them. Agreed?"<br>"Just as soon as my dozing Nobody or Neku if he's listening sorts my clothes out for me." Without a word from Roxas or any sign from Neku, they changed back to the same default clothes I'd had before Roxas made Final form the normal. Xion was right, now that I looked like Sora again and the clothes were back to normal, we were identical.  
>Riku called something we couldn't hear to Donald, who said something else to Goofy. Goofy in turn started rowing harder to try and catch up with Riku, but it looked like Riku and Kairi were still going to win.<br>Donald seemed to have noticed the same though, and surreptitiously took out one of his wands, quietly casting an Aero spell behind their boat to propel them forward with greater speed. But Riku also noticed this, and since he had full access to my own repertoire of spells, he too used Aero to negate that advantage.  
>Oddly, it didn't seem to do much. Donald's one just seemed to keep going and going, while Riku continually had to re-cast his one. Donald and Goofy quickly drew level, then overtook them. Something odd was going on here, Donald might have been a better magician than me, but surely there shouldn't have been that much of a difference.<br>Then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Xion was periodically gesturing toward them, and I caught on. He'd been silently casting Aero for them, that was why it had never run out – he'd kept it going.  
>"Hey! That's-"<br>"Cheating?" Xion grinned. "You never said anything about not influencing their race. Just because I thought of it and you didn't..."  
>He had me there, and worse, Donald and Goofy had made it to the shore before Riku and Kairi.<br>"I guess that means I lose the bet," I conceded reluctantly.  
>"Sure thing. Don't forget-"<br>"I know. You tell them you're me, and I tell them I'm you. Let's just hope we don't confuse Neku too, or we'll have a right mess to fix when we try to get Sora back."  
>Just as Xion predicted, the outcome of that little bet left them with no end of troubles for that day, as they each mistook us for each other – which was further confusing since thanks to our bet, we were telling them we really were each other.<br>Finally, Riku part-way solved it by stealing my Kingdom crown, so they could tell which of us they thought was Xion. Xion and I were having too much fun by now to care that they still had it wrong.  
>When it reached lunchtime, Donald finally decided it was time he and Goofy went home. Jiminy, who'd played along with our little deception, had been quietly slipped to Xion to help reinforce our swapped identities, so when they came to him asking him to have them sent home to the Disney Castle, he joined them, taking the journals with him.<br>Neku played along too, as when Xion spoke to the empty air, asking him to take them all home together, he responded as if it had been me. Just before they disappeared, Jiminy gave me a wave goodbye from the top of Goofy's hat.  
>I was a little sad I hadn't been the one to really say goodbye, but Xion had handled it just the way I would have, which was fine by me.<br>Kairi spoiled our fun then, clearing up the little identity mistake and getting Riku to give me back my crown. He seemed a bit put out that we'd both fooled him, but Kairi reminded him that she'd recognise me anywhere, no matter what I looked like. After all, I had kept her heart safe for a time.  
>Once that had been sorted out, even though it took away some of our fun, we stopped for lunch – Kairi had brought various sandwiches with her, some by her, some by Naminé. Evidently they could do something similar to Roxas, coming out for short times when needed. I imagine they had a wider category of times that 'when needed' counted for though.<br>Then late as usual, Sora showed up looking for all the world like me, strolling down the beach as if he'd been here all along. It's kind of odd, seeing and hearing yourself as others see you. It's stranger still when you know you're giving someone else the exact same feeling.  
>"You could have told me you were waiting on me," he called to me reproachfully.<br>"Neku told me you'd decided to take some time away from the book," I called back. "I just decided to let you keep that time."  
>"Good thing I decided to check up on you then, isn't it? I see you've given me a twin," he added, nodding to Xion. "Sure you don't want to look different?"<br>"Just imagine the trouble you and I can get into, pretending to be each other," Xion smirked. "Lee and I got a hint of that earlier."  
>"I know, I was reading that this morning. "You know, Liam, there's one thing I'm a bit annoyed at you about."<br>"What's that?" I asked him.  
>"Everyone's gonna remember that you did all this, not me. Even though I'm gonna remember having done it too, but they aren't going to remember that."<br>"I've got a solution to that – if you'll let me have Neku's book back." Sora handed it over, along with a pen I recognised as one of my own from home. He must have brought it along with him.  
>In the book, I wrote,<br>'Wherever people remembered seeing me going through Sora's life, they now remembered me and Sora there working together, and Sora also remembers this.'  
>Underneath what I wrote, more writing continued,<br>'But Neku must have decided that he wanted Sora to keep his memories the way they had been before this change I implemented, as he suddenly said-'  
>"Hey! You made me go along with you!"<br>'-showing that he now remembered both ways.'  
>I closed the book again – its narrative was interesting, but hardly necessary.<br>"Of course," I said to Sora. "Now you and I _both_ did it. Along with everyone else."  
>"I remember that now," Riku mused. "You were there with him the whole time. But..."<br>"We remember what really happened too," Kairi finished. "Before you made that change."  
>"I guess Neku wanted you to remember both ways too," I shrugged. "Now, Sora... what d'ya say we put things straight and get back in our own bodies?"<br>"I thought you'd never ask. I miss my own body."  
>So I reopened the book, reading the last line there before I wrote my addition.<br>'...and as I prepared to write the words that would restore Sora and me to our proper places, I felt a momentary hesitation – I'd enjoyed my time here and everything I'd done, was I really prepared to set all that aside and go back to my relatively mundane life? No doubt Roxas would complain about it being dull...'  
>Perhaps it was Neku trying to give me one last test, to see if I really could give it up and accept going back to my life.<br>But I wrote underneath, 'Despite these doubts, I still remembered what was right, and decided that it was time to go home. Sora and I were returned to our own bodies, and I was brought back home to where it had all started.'  
>And just that happened.<p>

I still have my Keyblade – Gilded Light – and even my armour. I'm still a Keyblade Master, so named by Eraqus, and I still have my magic, though I don't use it very often. In a world like ours, it does tend to attract attention.  
>Just as Neku's book had written, Roxas is already complaining about my life being too dull in comparison, and keeps trying to encourage me to go off to other worlds and see old friends. Maybe in time I will, but right now I just want to get settled back in to my own familiar life.<br>Neku's book is still with me. Neku might not be his real name, but since he chose to appear as Neku, that's become his name. The book is blank now, though I still have a neat stack of books that chronicle everything in this story, though in a bit more detail.  
>But his book still holds it's power. I haven't used it again since, but I know if I want to, I can always send myself on other adventures, or use it to ask Neku to tell me what Sora or Mickey are up to. Last I heard, Mickey was getting ready to digitize the contents of the erased journal, so maybe I'll hear from him if he has trouble with that. Until then, I'll settle for seeing if I can get Roxas to tell his side of the story. It'll be interesting to see how his life got changed by being my Nobody.<br>Anyway, Roxas tells me I'm getting sidetracked and rambling on again, so it's time for me to go – until next time, at least.  
>Oh, and those of you wondering about the games in the series that have yet to come – Neku tells me he can't draw on them until they've been released. Even he can't see what the story is going to be before it happens.<br>And with that – see ya all next time!  
><em>Don't forget me either. Honestly, just because I'm his Nobody...<em>


End file.
